By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO– God? Sex? Religion? “This play is not suitable for viewers who find any of the following objectionable: Gun violence! Bang! Bang! Women in the workplace! Yea! Soccer moms discussing scientific method! Criticism of Fox News! Candid discussions on religion and politics! Priests defending the Holy Trinity using perplexing analogies!
Plane crashes! With no survivors!” And, Oh lest we forget Bertolt Brecht! Yea team!
Hang on to your hats because this is what greets you when enter the chambers of The Exit Interview by William Missouri Downs now premiering at the San Diego Repertory Theatre through Oct. 21.
Cheerleaders JoAnne Glover and Lisel Gorell-Gets or Actress #1 and Actress # 2 come out in full Pom Poms mode (“Yea Team!) bouncing on to the stage with neon and non-neon looking graffiti, created by Giulio Cesare Perrone, staring back at us (Research vs. Revolution, Human Minds vs. God’s Needs, Now vs. Later, Big Mac vs. Whopper, Honda vs. Toyota, All People vs. God’s People, Now vs. Later) while prompting and hyping the audience to get with the mood for a wild and wacky ride into the world of The Exit Interview.
Enter Bertolt Brecht scholar, Dick (call me Richard) Fig, PhD (Herbert Siguenza) the guy about to be given his ‘exit papers’ from his university position in a face off with university administrator, champion of small talk and firm believer of God Eunice (Linda Libby). She is the one conducting the exit interview.
The ‘interview’ does not go well (“Are we feeling hostile?”) from the start and continues downhill from there, veering off to parts unknown until we trip over them including religion, politics and sex; just as advertised. Every now and then the playwright will show up on a video in the background, how about a horse in Wyoming, and redirect the story usually heavy on the German accents, ergo touches of Brecht. Try pronouncing ‘Verfremdungseffekt’.
But wait there is also a masked gunman on a rampage running around the entire campus scaring the bejesus out of everyone. It keeps Eunice in touch with her faith and Dick asking the question, “Do things really happen for a reason?” Dick, as you can guess, is facing an existential crisis and we are in it with him. Actually it looks like a train wreck waiting to happen but the laughs keep on coming.
On some absurdist and wacky level, it’s funny, but not particularly my cup of tea. I left the theatre asking, “What’s it all about, Alfie?”
That said there are some pretty outrageous goings on here with artistic director Sam Woodhouse and champion for the underdog Herbert Siguenza, now an Artist in Residence at The Rep., working together again but on an entirely different playing field.
You might recall Siguenza, political satirist and one of the founders of Culture Clash, a national movement that takes on causes as immigration and the inequalities here in Southern California of the Hispanic community. He was last seen here in Zoot Suit. Now as Dick he hobbles around in a leg cast that is removable and as the expert on Brecht. Both he and Eunice seem to be bound to take us on this too long journey together.
JoAnne Glover and Gorell-Getz are over the top hilarious as the cheerleaders that also work their magic in a number of walk on and other female roles. Linda Libby is pretty consistent and droll as Eunice especially when she brings out her collage of pictures on a folded poster board, showing of her hopes and dreams: a chlorine-free office, a Porsche, travel adventures, the weight she will lose and a some-day book about forgiveness. It’s funnier than it sounds.
There is a spoof on FOX News with Nick Cagle acting as newscaster trying to dig up a story about a baby being saved by a runaway train and coaxing the mother (Glover) to admit that God had a hand in saving the babe. Francis Gercke, in one of his many roles presents himself off as a holy figure, Father McCarthy, dressed to the nines decked out in full regalia (Giulio Cesare Perrone) chugging Diet Coke and helping Dick understand the omniscient, omnipotent… “Think of it as Me, Myself and I”.
And so it goes. Each of the players has their moment in the sun playing multiple characters, twenty in all. If off the wall zaniness tickles your funny bone, The Exit Interview should have you laughing all the way home. Or, it just might suit your curiously intellectual brain to ponder the nature of the universe (if that’s your desire) or not.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: Through Oct. 21st
Organization: San Diego Repertory Theatre
Phone: 619-544-1000
Production Type: Comedy
Where: 79 Horton Plaza, downtown San Diego
Ticket Prices: $31.00-$52.00
Web: sdrep.org
Venue: Lyceum Space
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Davis is a San Diego-based theatre critic. She may be contacted at carol.davis@sdjewishworld.com