EXHUMED
Supposedly Turner’s previous play, Enemies of the Moon, the first installment in the Festival of Light Trilogy, had its intriguing aspects–something I don’t doubt. Even Exhumed had its moments–but they were only moments. Some of Turner’s ideas for staging Exhumed are interesting, though not all of them work as well as his eccentric–although not terribly original–decision to stage the play on various platforms and performance areas set throughout the Garage’s huge auditorium, or his insistence on breaking the audience into three groups, spreading us throughout the performance area. This rearrangement of the audience places us in the midst of the play’s action and gives each section of the audience a radically different view of the show.
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Many of the key characters in this story are played by more than one actor, and Reed is played by no less than five different actors, described in the program as “Reed at 18,” “Reed at 25,” “Reed in Limbo,” “Reed in Forest,” and “Reed in Chair.” Because no one enters a scene saying “So, Reed in Limbo, how do you like Chicago?” or “Hey Reed in Chair, can I borrow your phone?” you never really know for certain which Reed is in which scene. Of course, it really doesn’t matter, because no attempt has been made to show the difference between, say, “Reed at 18” and “Reed at 25.” Oh, “Reed at 25” has a shaved head, and “Reed at 18” likes Pop Tarts. But Turner never gives us a clue to how this 18-year-old with a wino for a friend became that 25-year-old with a junkie for a girlfriend.
