Beauty Is is a short play put on by the acting group Hotel Obligado. The play centers around 4 characters: Sean, Evan, Zack, and Tina. Tina functions as the embodiment of crystal meth and its affects on the human psyche. She interacts with each of the characters at various points in the play, preying on their insecurities, weaknesses, and loneliness in an effort to get them to take another hit. Sean and Zack are roommates, but their relationship is vague—friendly at times and intimate at others. Evan is a young man who is trying to get over an old flame by throwing himself back into the dating game.
Evan and Zack meet at a bar, and both men are immediately attracted to each other. Zack persuades Evan to take a hit of meth which spirals quickly into a weekend-long sex- and meth- fest culminating in a tragic final scene (I won’t give it away—you should go see it!). Meanwhile, Sean spends his weekend attempting to keep loneliness at bay and failing, as he spends hours desperately chatting online with potential hook up partners. He also spends some time in self-reflection about his addiction, and when he can’t take the boredom and loneliness anymore, Tina shows up and Sean takes another hit.
Besides being extremely well acted, this play incorporates “physical theater,” which looks a lot like modern dance. Unlike some modern dance pieces I’ve seen, no movement was over exaggerated, music was rarely (if ever) used as an accompaniment, and in this play the dance segments moved seamlessly between dialogue. This choreographed dance element worked especially well to illustrate the various relationship dynamics between Evan and Zack, and also between Tina and the other three characters.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this piece was the ways crystal meth and the nature of addiction were portrayed, especially by Tina and Sean. Tina’s character was beautiful, sensual, seductive, and persuasive, with a steely edge (only noticeable when the other characters had doubts about their abuse of the drug). She reminded each character of his weaknesses, failures, and desires at different points during the play. Tina was at times playful, sexy, cajoling, as well as straight-up aggressive, demanding, and mean. She represented the myriad of dynamics at work when a person struggles between making healthy choices and giving into momentary pleasure. I did not appreciate the playwright’s choice of defaulting the embodiment of an extremely destructive drug to the stereotypical beautiful bitch archetype (which has roots in countless aspects of our culture and history, from ancient mythology to Disney’s animated fairy tales). This was frustrating mostly in the fact that Tina displayed so many feminine characteristics, in her dialogue, her walk, and in her dance interactions with the characters. This kind of easy association between femininity and evil is something that needs a corrective, not a perpetuation.
Lastly I’d like to comment on Sean’s view of his own addiction. What struck me during different moments of his monologues was that Sean viewed meth as an avenue to realizing who he really was, a way to realize his true potential. It seems like most other physiologically addictive drugs are speaking to a different desire—a desire to get away from life as it is, to numb pain, etc. Rarely have I heard a drug described as something that gets at a person’s true identity. This dynamic, so well portrayed by this play, makes meth an extremely psychologically addictive drug, in a different way from the psychological addiction of marijuana or alcohol. The drug was portrayed and perceived by Sean as something that helped him to see his own beauty. This was reinforced by a line spoken by Tina toward the end of the piece in a cryptic and eerie tone: “You are all beautiful. Every one of you.”
~Becca Blake
This show is still running! Check it out at the Gershwin Y, 401 S. Broad Street, next & last performance TONIGHT! 9/5/08 7 p.m. $10 @ the door.
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