Armed With a Rock in a Sock

Is God Is

“Make your dad dead. Make him real dead. All the way dead. Lots of blood is fine.” Thus is the crystal clear command directed by a dying mother to her battle-scarred twenty-something twin daughters. The audience is in for an unsettling revenge story, peppered with gallows humor and staged upon a pristine, white stage setting that will end up splattered with blood. 

Try to imagine what would happen if the Oedipus myth mated with the film “Reservoir Dogs” and then had a child. Confused? Picture a modern day drama that weaves together, into one dark, humorous story, a wrathful God of Vengeance from the Old Testament, the bloody eye-for-an-eye epics of every Greek tragedy, the unrelenting, sanguinary violence of Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus” and the gory counterblows, torture and savagery found in the films of Quentin Tarantino. That’s what theatergoers can expect from Aleshea Harris’ gritty revenge drama, directed with vigor, venom, and just the right amount of comedy, by Marti Gobel.

Twins Racine (played with drive and raw passion by the always remarkable Aja Singletary) and Anaia (sensitively portrayed by Ashli Rene Funches) think they’re orphans. They believe their mother has passed away, having been burned alive by their estranged and deranged father. They call their mother “God” because she made them. Both girls have burn scars all over their faces and bodies from trying to save their mother from this ghastly murder. Suddenly, out of the blue, they receive a letter from their mother asking the twins to travel to see her in a rest home before she dies. 

Played with dignity, desperation and Medea-like vengeance by Ensemble Member, Karen Aldridge (so excellent in A Red Orchid’s “The Moors” and Broadway’s “Matilda, the Musical”), is their mother. The woman struggles for breath, trying to hide her burnt body “that looks like an alligator.” Their scene at the beginning of the play is filled with pain and determination, covered by an overriding blanket of love for her two younng girls. But the mother’s rasping command to her daughters starts the ball rolling.

First, armed with a rock in a sock, they set off to find a lawyer named Chuck Hall. He’s suffering from remorse and has turned suicidal after having gotten the girls’ father off from his conviction of attempted murder. Although he’s swallowed some pills, Racine and Anaia help him to leave this world behind. Then the twins track down their father in his plush yellow house with teal shutters, high up in the hills. First they have a run-in with Angie, The Man’s bougie new wife, who is in the process of trying to run away from the abuse she’s been suffering. Played with anguish and anxiety by Rita Wicks, the soccer mom escapes, but not with her life.

 The two girls then meet their dad’s new family, a pair of pampered and spoiled teenage twin brothers, who mistake the intruders for strippers, probably rented by their father as a birthday gift. While Anaia gets to know the arugula-chowing Riley (a very funny Donovan Session), Racine stabs to death Scotch, his poetry-writing brother, played with great humor by Andrew Muwonge. When easygoing Riley sees what has happened he turns combative and tries to kill Racine; but Anaia turns warrior and attempts to save her sister’s life. The final showdown comes with their father’s arrival. The Man, played with grit and guts by Kevin Minor, finally and deservedly meets his match. It’s “Kill Bill” and “Richard III,” all rolled into one violent, blood-soaked scene.

Fight & Intimacy Choreographer Jyreika Guest brings realistic authenticity to this play. Set Designer Sydney Lynne has created a clean, white set, dominated by a large circular moon-like object that pulses with the violence. The walls are detailed with scratchings that look like nerve ganglia or blood vessels. Levi Wilkins’ extraordinary Lighting brings everything together. Great costuming and makeup effects come courtesy of Gregory Graham, particularly for Karen Aldridge’s savagely scarred body suit and robe, and the makeup, wigs and costumes for Racine and Anaia. Consider, especially, that the buckets of blood shed during this maniacal and murderous tale of revenge have to be cleaned before the next performance.

“Is God Is” is both alarming and absurdly amusing. The violence in Alesha Harris’ one-act is extremely intense. Because it’s presented up close and personal for the audience, all the maiming, killing and splattering of blood and guts may repulse some theatergoers. Some audience members can expect to leave the theatre, as I did, with spots of stage blood spattered on their clothing and program. But the play’s not all gore and gruesome goings-on. There’s a lot more unexpected laughs to be found in the black humor, thanks to the brilliant performances elicited by Director Marti Gobel, helping to create some kind of bizarre poetic balance.       

Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented April 6-May 28 by A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells Ave., Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by calling 312-943-8722 or by going to www.aredorchidtheatre.org.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.