DOUBLE EVERY MINUTE
The world that Brenton paints is intriguing and seductive, mainly because all the characters surrounding Martin jealously guard their true feelings and loyalties. In a particularly chilling moment, Raffety (Debra Rodkin), a charming British woman who also works for Joan’s terrorist group, calmly explains her order to murder Joan by saying, “She was Maoist. She had situationist tendencies.” This is a world where prescribing to the wrong branch of revolutionary thought can be fatal.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
On one level, this play seems a grotesque farce, in which rather one-dimensional characters suddenly act in entirely unexpected ways. For example, when Gocher’s daughter Moira (Hammersley) comes to visit her hated father in prison, he tries to convince her to secure his release by selling herself to each of the guards in turn. This ultimate capitalist gesture should be disturbingly funny coming from such a devout Communist, yet nothing in the script heightens the comic reality.
