Harrower Play at Steep Theatre Has Us Thinking

By Suzy Evans in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 14, 2009 9:20PM

What would you do if you reached the end of your life and you’d done nothing special? Or do you walk around now, wondering who the hell you’re supposed to be? We can’t decide which one scares us more, but David Harrower’s Kill the Old Torture Their Young at Steep Theatre definitely put life in perspective.

Harrower’s hit play Blackbird still lingers in our mind, and while we’d love to play the comparison game, Kill/Torture is much too different, while still possessing Harrower’s signature rhythm. Set in a city that could be Chicago (all we know is it’s not New York and there’s a street named Broadway), Kill/Torture explores the daily lives of the urban citizens. A filmmaker returns to this unnamed city, his hometown, to film a documentary, and everyone expects him to do great things. While Heather, the production company’s receptionist, lives a structured week with no spontaneity. Other characters - an itinerant rock singer, a disgruntled birdwatcher, a crotchety old man, a hopeful old women, a young artist, a troubled 20-something - search for purpose in this place, with no particular direction.

As the old man and the young artist, Leonard Kraft and Bronwen Prosser share a beautiful chemistry. Kraft’s every movement had us drenched in sympathy, but when he spoke, we kind of wanted to yell at him, in a good way. Harrower’s poetic language demands a precise tempo, and while Prosser was a little offbeat, she has one of the most poignant scenes that had us reaching for a Kleenex.

Our main complaint with this show, however, is the staging. Director Kathryn Walsh uses the length of the stage well, aided by the set pieces on wheels. However, the audience sits facing each other along the space, and when the action takes place in between, it’s difficult to see some of the characters’ actions. Luckily, many of the better scenes unfold at the ends of the space, making it easier to capture the actor’s emotions. We particularly liked the scene about bird watching - a supremely underrated hobby. As the birdwatcher, James Allen epitomized everything that all the other characters needed, with a delightful hint of sarcasm and disdain. Sometimes you just need to step back and re-evaluate, and if bird watching helps us do it, we’re all for it.

Kill the Old Torture Their Young runs through November 7 at Steep Theatre (1115 W. Berwyn Ave.).