Review of Interrobang Theatre Project's Grace
Time and space are very prominent concepts in this show, which they express through dialogue and movement. In the show, they start out in the last moment the play chronologically and move backwards. The first thing you see is also the last thing you see in the play, but when you first see it you have no idea how they got there or if it can be prevented over the course of the play. They didn't say the words or sentences backwards in the first scene, but the lines seem to be in backwards order. They would crawl backwards and walk backwards. It was interesting to think about and try to piece together how they got here. Then they begin with the first chronological scene and go forward. The flow of the play gets disrupted another time in the show when a big event has happened and they go back and show it to you reversed, letting you reconsider the things they are doing. They not only mess with time in some scenes, they also play with our perception of where they are in space. The set is one room, but the play takes place in two rooms. But they use the same set at the same time for two scenes in different rooms. It is very interesting to see these two households living their lives not paying attention to each other even when they are sitting on the same couch because they are not really supposed to be in the same space. In the second scene, I kept thinking Steve and Sara were ignoring Sam until I figured out that they were not in the same place. Also, Sam talks about time and space quite a lot and very philosophically. Being a scientist, he does not believe that time and events are determined by God. I think he questions why God would be in charge of time and space if God exists outside of it.
Every character in the show struggles with their belief system and what other people think they should believe in. Steve is very outspoken about his belief in God and the Christian faith. He thinks his faith will save him from anything bad happening to him and he thinks that because he is Christian that if he has faith everything will fall into place and he will become successful and rich. But he puts too much faith in his projects and doesn't take into account the realities of the world: that he might be getting scammed or that his wife might not be happy with the circumstances or their relationship. As his business falls apart he keeps saying he just has to have faith, but it seems like part of him realizes that is not working out anymore. Sam, from the very beginning is very skeptical about the Christian faith and doesn't believe in it. But because he becomes close to Sara, who is Christian, he starts to understand where she is coming from. The show seems to be saying that it is important to have reasonable faith in humanity, whether you believe in God or not. Sara seems to be following her husband in her own beliefs for the beginning of the show. But then she meets someone who doesn't share her same beliefs but believes in something she never thought of before, that not everything has to be controlled by God. She shows us that faith doesn't have to be convincing someone they have to believe in God to be "saved." She can show her faith by being a person to talk to and being a friend. She brings over food and coffee and makes sure Sam feels supported and not judged by his appearance.
The monologue by the exterminator, Karl (Walter Brody) was saying some really emotional things but not in an emotional way. I think that was really effective. (The rest of this paragraph has some spoilers, which you can read here.)
People who would like this show are people who like plays that make you think, couch deception, and supportive coffee. I think that people should go see this show. It brings up a lot of interesting ideas and was well-acted. I really liked it.
Photos: Evan Hanover
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