Necessary Monsters: A Carnivalesque Journey Through the Dark Side of Human Nature

Evelyn Howe as Faye the Fairy.  Photo: Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo.

John Kuntz’s fantastical Necessary Monsters (whose title is borrowed from Jorge Luis Borges), now at Boston’s Speakeasy Stage, first saw the light of day in 2011 at the Boston Conservatory where Kuntz devised it with his acting class. Impressed with its possibilities, the Speakeasy Company decided to give Necessary Monsters its professional début. Although Kuntz staged it at the Conservatory, directing chores for this production are in the capable hands of David R. Gammons, who has often worked with John Kuntz, a well-known Boston actor. In Necessary Monsters, Kuntz plays the waiter Stephen, a rare kindly character; Theo, a maniacal psychiatrist; and a nameless steward. Necessary Monsters’ fourteen roles are performed by eight talented actors.

All the actors are enclosed in a barbed wire-like cage, a powerful metaphor open to diverse interpretations, like almost everything that transpires in the production. The audience sits in front of and behind the stage, watching not only the play but each other, if so inclined. Simple movable chairs and numerous television sets, used for close-ups, pertinent images, and credits, make up the majority of the set pieces. Over the course of the show, the floor becomes covered with junk.

Necessary Monsters opens with the characters moving about in a variety of ways. Some appear to be dancers practicing, others actors working on a script, or doing a warm-up prior to performance. Simultaneously, they give the impression of mad people. This ten-minute pre-show ends with the sound of an airplane, the flashing of red strobe lights and the impression that a terrorist act has taken place. The actors move the chairs into an airplane seating plan. Lights go down, then up and the plane has morphed into a restaurant, the airplane steward, now a waiter. The dialogue begins. Welcome to the world of John Kuntz.

The play is in part a bizarre exploration of evil, fear, anger, and unfulfilled yearnings set into mostly late twentieth-century pop culture. At well-chosen moments its grotesqueness morphs into wild humor. It is carefully laid out while giving the impression of randomness with the result that the spectator (at least this one) is both confused and fascinated, looking for meaning that perhaps does not exist. Characters appear and reappear in films, a children’s television show, and a novel, all titled Necessary Monsters. Transitions between stories have the same fluky quality: a scene might end with a spirited dance or a computer button being pressed, stopping the action, which is then replayed in reverse.

Characters are purposely one-dimensional as are their motivations and actions. Drake, (Michael Underhill) a pill popper, who carries a toy monkey, meets Cissa (McCaela Donovan), a special effects film technician, on their first date. After a desultory conversation, he asks, “Do you want to have sex?” She agrees and they proceed in full sight of the other patrons, who don’t react. A passing waiter covers them with a table cloth. Cissa leaves, the relationship seemingly over.

In a children’s television sequence, the cast, dressed as kids, bounces onto the stage singing, “You Are My Sunshine,” the play’s ironic theme song. Faye (Evelyn Howe), in a fairy costume complete with wings, tells a story, enacted by the others with gusto, about the destruction of a boy through drugs, sex, and murder. Interrupted by a crew member, Faye loses it and attacks her viciously, using highly imagistic foul language.

Some scenes stand alone with no follow-up, while others are vaguely connected. But the connections are too weak to give the audience a sense of closure. Various label come to mind to describe both the play and production: absurdist, surrealist, expressionist, theatricalist, parodic, but none quite fits. Perhaps Kuntz is an original.

The actors are excellent, both individually and as an ensemble. Cristina Todesco’s set did much to create the world of the play, as did Adam Stone’s clever sound/video design, Jeff Adelberg’s lighting, and Elisabetta Polito’s appropriate and sometimes amusingly garish costumes.

Playwright – John Kuntz

Director – David R. Gammons

Set Design – Cristina Todesco

Costumes – Elisabetta Polito

Sound and Video – Adam Stone

Lighting – Jeff Adelberg

Cast

Thomas Derrah – Greer
McCaela Donovan – Cissa/Gillian
Stacy Fischer – Flora
Evelyn Howe – Midge/Faye
John Kuntz – Stephen/Theo/Steward
Georgia Lyman – Mia/Abigail
Greg Maraio – Victor/Clint
Michael Underhill – Drake

Plays through January 3, 2015 at SpeakEasy Stage at the Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts