Despite some strong performances, the drama is a tough one to follow
Grace, the final show of the Bas Bleu Theatre’s 30th season, quickly unfolds into an exploration of the complex issues of faith, religion and family.
Grace (Kate Reiter) is a professor of natural science and is “naturalist,” not an atheist. She is committed to a view of the world without God and spends most of her classroom time debunking religion and religious fanaticism. She steadfastly objects to any attempt to promote God, putting her at odds with her son Tom (Josh Shirt) when he decides to give up practicing law and become an Anglican priest.
When the lights come up, Grace is wearing an experimental helmet (the ‘God Helmet’) and goggles designed to electrically stimulate a religious experience — or at least the experience of feeling the presence of someone. The exercise is conducted by an American professor, Michael Persinger (Jim Valone) in Canada, who we hear, but never see.
The play then backtracks to the events leading up to why Grace would participate in such an experience. Scenes jump back and forth in time as the Stimulator elicits random events from Grace’s memory, making it difficult to follow. Even the important memory in which Tom announces his decision is suppressed in the play’s overly fussy structure. Although the director (Eva Wright) attempts to convey location, space and time as fluid, it results in a complicated structure that dulls the emotional conflict between Grace and Tom.
Kate Reiter with ‘the God helmet’ | Bill Cotton Photography
Grace’s memories focus on the heated debates with Tom about blending faith and reason, and the best way to fight the dangerous rise of fanaticism. Grace accuses Tom of being complicit in the current wave of religious conflict. His argument is that religion will always be around; it’s a central part of everyone’s life. The best that he can hope for is to “turn bad, violent religion into better religion.”
Tony (Mike Robinson), Tom’s father, provides light relief when the serious issues arise. He withdraws from the battles, pointing out that Tom is free to make his own decisions, and tries to lighten the atmosphere with jokes. Tom’s girlfriend Ruth (Tabitha Tyree), who is carrying his child, adds a skeptical, yet down-to-earth quality that sometimes helps ground Grace and Tom’s arguments.
When it’s revealed that Tom was a victim of an extremist, how his family and girlfriend deal with the loss is revealed through flashback scenes. They discuss the present and the future. They debate religion and remember humorous moments that attempt to brighten the unhappy present that they face.
Tyree’s role as Ruth only gains momentum near the end of the play. She delivers a long monologue designed to convey the frustration and sorrow at the turn that her life has taken, which is less moving than it should be. Robinson delivers a thoughtful performance and his comic relief, dry delivery and wry smile are a nice break from Grace and Tom’s theological arguments. Shirt is a sympathetic, patient Tom, but is too lukewarm in his justifications about his decision. He doesn’t do much more than fulfill his obvious role. And, he’s no match for Reiter’s verbal assaults. Reiter delivers Grace’s “sermons” passionately and manages to reveal, at the end, the wounded and desperate mother beneath.
Wright directs the performances with simplicity. The scenery (Doster Chastain) is solid and attempts to simplify the separate scenes, as the lighting (Brian Miller) helps the audience with scene transitions. The costumes are basic and definitely don’t distract you from the performances.
The play provides an opportunity to spotlight views on religion and the impact of fundamentalism at a time when religious intolerance is high. The drama should be in the interaction between the characters, which provides an emotional connection for the audience. But, I feel that the interaction between the characters is exactly what keeps the play from landing the emotional or spiritual impact that it needs.
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