Lawrence Redecker, as crazed Carrier X in “The Boiling: A tale of American nihilism,” stands before a striking projection. Photo by Jay Yamada.
By WOODY WEINGARTEN
If you relish theatrical productions that can merge disparate elements into a unique gel, the Magic Theatre’s The Boiling: A tale of American nihilism might satisfy your appetite.
It’s a complicated, offbeat, wannabe thriller that challenges the mental acuity of its audience, which may be left answerless to a carload of questions.
Major themes include roots and the question of if you can go home again, whether human relationships and identity do change, how personal and community histories can be integrated with today’s beings and events, how to deal with major violence in our lives, and whether science and book-learning can protect us from danger.
Plus, where serene birding fits into all of it.
The world premiere that’s presented by the Magic in conjunction with Campo Santo combines acting that ranges from muted subtlety to emotional outbursts, perfectly inserted music that skips from raucous rock to melancholy softness, and striking video, sound and lighting effects that can startle and delight.
Sunhui Chang’s drama, which jumps back and forth in time and from the Carolinas to Colorado, certainly isn’t linear. But there is a storyline:
Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe (left) and John Brougher are befuddled agents trying to track down a killer virus spreader. Photo by Jay Yamada.
Brian, a Korean American virologist from the Midwest, and Vee, a Southern-bred Black detective linked to the Pacific Northwest, team up as agents of a new government agency to hunt down David, a rampaging nomadic Caucasian carrier of a killer virus labeled “the boiling.”
For those who enjoy stage puzzles that dip into mental masturbation, the play covers several aspects of nihilism, including the concept that the attitude can be a source of despair as well as a catalyst for individual freedom. If you have the patience to look deep enough, you may discover that The Boiling also touches on fundamental nihilistic notions such as life is basically meaningless, without purpose or value; objective moral codes and beliefs don’t exist; and the possibility of knowledge or unbiased truth is nil.
That sounds awfully negative on paper, yet in the skilled hands of the cast of seven, it’s not overpowering but integrated with whatever else is happening onstage — and off, because characters join the chain of events from deep in the seats (and even surprisingly plop down in the front row).
The device of characters reading — in the third person — a book entry that describe themselves and what they’re doing can be seductive. Also alluring is the projection of plot locations in big letters on the stage floor between scenes, perhaps an outgrowth of the author originally conceiving of the slow 95-minute creation as a screenplay.
Jesse Vaughn (front) performs a ritual in “The Boiling” as Jeannine Anderson shuts her eyes in quietude behind him. Photo by Jay Yamada.
Off-putting, unlike a movie or video where the volume can be adjusted by a techie, is the choice by director Ellen Sebastian Chang of having two actors turn their backs to the audience in one long scene, muffling their words despite being mic’d.
From a more positive viewpoint, Lawrence Reducer excels as Carrier X, as do Jeannine Anderson as Miss Lolli (a narrator), and John Brougher as Brian.
All three — part of a metaphoric road trip — help bring the puzzle and story home.
The Boiling: A Tale of American Nihilism runs at the Magic Theatre, 2 Marina Blvd., Landmark Building C, Suite 260, Fort Mason, in San Francisco, through April 20. Tickets: $35 to $75. Info: 415-441-8822 or https://magictheatre.org
Sherwood “Woody” Weingarten, a longtime member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle and the author of four books, can be contacted by email at voodee@sbcglobal.net or on his websites, https://woodyweingarten.com and https://vitalitypress.com.
