The Receptionist
The Receptionist
By Adam Bock
Directed by Kevin T. Becker
With Alea Figueroa, Josh Geoghagan, Rebekah Lane and Kevin Sigman
DiDonna Productions/ The Empty Spaces Theatre Co(llaboration) at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center, Orlando FL</strong>
Somewhere in that vast plain between “1984” and “Our Boarding House with Major Hoople” lies this tale of stifling menace. Beverly (Lane) answers phones, chats with friends and diverts a steady stream of calls to voice mail. While the voice mail boxes fill up, her boss Mr. Raymond (Sigman) is nowhere to be found. Lorraine (Figueroa) arrives late as usual, and the phones keep ringing. Then Mr. Dart (Geoghagan) arrives, he’s silent, persistent and carries one of those little cop steno books so something is obviously up. Lorraine flirts fearlessly, she’s attractive but worried about getting a man, and Mr. Dart seems to fill her bill. When Mr. Raymond does show up, he’s worried; one of his torture cases has gone slightly wrong. His error ripples outward, and soon everyone in this foul business is getting some sort of Karmic revenge.
Little of consequence appears to be happening; Beverly could just be routing insurance claims from her chirpy demeanor. She, too carries a sense of morality; she does not approve of Lorraine dating married men. And Sigman is distracted, clearly something is happening in his life that outweighs his job, and while Lorraine may get disapproval from Beverly, they are close to being best friends. The menace exudes from both the neutral air of the room and from Geoghagan’s stiff but precise attention to detail. The other three pile the tinder, and he sets it on fire.
While the pre and post show discussions spoke at lent about the meaning of names, water imagery and the story of Narcissus, this story reads as an allegory for the torture and other unpleasant actions in Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and where ever else people go to get their brains peeled back. Here the menace is insidious, it’s not just the unfortunates that are at risk of disappearing, it the torturers as well as well. It’s the sort of unbridled paranoia that Communist Russia, McCarthy era America or Nazi Germany bred: and there’s only one way of staying healthy: keep your head down, stay unnoticed, know nothing, help no one, trust no one. Not bad for a little show that ran on the premise “Ask me about my process.”
For more information on Empty Spaces Theater Company, visit http://www.emptyspacestheatre.org
