THE POWER FAILURE
The Power Failure is set in the basement of an unnamed government institution in the capital of an unnamed country. The entire one-act drama consists of an interrogation of the Electrician (Dale Young) by the Official (Mark Vallarta), while the ineffectual Policeman (Arthur Aulisi) watches over the proceedings. The Electrician, who has a lengthy record of subversive behavior–publishing inflammatory literature, inciting riots–has been literally dragged before the Official after being horribly bloodied by someone before the play begins. The Official is convinced that the Electrician and several conspirators are preparing to cripple the city by causing a massive power failure, and his job is to find out when it will happen.
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This is difficult material, not only because interrogation plays have been done many times before but because such a set up is so tightly focused on one time and place. Admirably, Glinski never resorts to theatrical gimmicks like fantasy sequences or voiced internal monologues. Rather his play takes place in real time, without break, unrelentingly. There is constant tension onstage, tension that Glinski never releases.
The Policeman is perhaps the play’s most interesting character because, as a friend of mine pointed out, he is the only one who might change–the two others are too defined by their roles. The Policeman never says a word but simply stands stupidly, waiting for the Official, who continually refers to him as worthless, to instruct him to smash the Electrician’s head into the table again. But it is clear that something is going on with this man, and his allegiance to the Official seems unpredictable. In this way Glinski makes the situation all the more volatile. Aulisi plays the Policeman with mannered subtlety, almost imperceptibly changing his expression depending upon whether the Official is watching him or not.
Even though it all seems so familiar, the carefully orchestrated human brutality in The Power Failure is contantly surprising. That is the most profound and disturbing element of this play. Perhaps The Power Failure is more Glinski’s reaction to Harold Pinter’s writing–and particularly Pinter’s recent play, One for the Road–than it is an attempt to find his own voice. But what better master? And what an exciting evening Glinski has given us.
