S2

S2

These are three imaginative, visually stunning moments in Edward Mast’s new play, S2, an otherwise plodding and heavy-handed diatribe against the evils of drugs, the media, complacency, the U.S. government, and authority figures in general. Unfortunately these three worthwhile moments can easily be missed since they occur long after the urge to take a nap sets in.

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Slate (Scott Denny), a 14-year-old prostitute, stumbles into the possession of a suitcase full of white powder: a bliss-inducing drug called S2. When he’s attacked by secret agents in ninja dress, his lover is killed, and the suitcase is stolen, Slate sets out on an errand of revenge, pursuing the assassins to Ecuador. There he meets and falls in love with a female revolutionary (though initially he’s presented as gay, Slate claims to have no real preference for men–he stays away from women because he can’t stand the thought of bringing a child into this lousy, stinking world). Captured by U.S. agents, he’s tortured and brainwashed and becomes an agent himself, mild-mannered and heterosexual. Gradually (much, much too gradually), he gets involved in a government plot to still the discontent of the masses with S2, which is “only addictive insofar as contentment is addictive.”