Again within the Pleistocene after I was a paying theatergoer, I swore off seeing one-person performs. And I made that vow after having seen two of the most effective: “The Belle of Amherst” with Julie Harris and “Tru” with Robert Morse. One actor on stage for a complete night within the theater simply didn’t minimize it for me.
Which makes the dual achievements of playwright David Cale particularly wonderful. He wrote the riveting one-person play “Harry Clarke,” during which Billy Crudup mesmerized as a really unreliable narrator. Now comes Cale’s “The Unknown,” starring Sean Hayes, which opened Thursday at Studio Seaview. The narrator right here is greater than unreliable; he could not exist in any respect, besides as a figment of another person’s creativeness.
Hayes performs a author named Elliott, who’s experiencing extreme author’s block. “The Unknown” will get off to an awesome begin when Elliott accepts the provide of a married couple, Larry and Chloe, to remain of their home within the nation. It doesn’t go nicely from the get-go. In the midst of the night time, Elliott finds himself being stalked. Again in New York, he thinks he has met the stalker on the legendary homosexual bar Julius’, and, towards all odds, the 2 males spend the night time collectively. Later, Elliott meets the stalker’s twin brother.
Stalkers, twins and intercourse with strangers. Who wouldn’t be hooked? What’s even higher is that the play’s creepiest second comes when Elliott makes a seemingly innocuous confession: He reveals being deeply smitten along with his straight good friend Larry.
Seeing only one individual on stage for 75 minutes cuts it for me right here as a result of, partly, that actor is Sean Hayes.
At all times a most partaking performer, Hayes in “The Unknown” brings to life at the least a dozen characters, seamlessly segueing between them and the narrator, Elliott. He does all of it, though beneath Leigh Silverman’s fast-paced route, Cha See’s lighting design and Caroline Eng’s sound design emerge as vivid companions.
There’s numerous nice expertise on stage, however the unseen star is Cale, a riveting story teller. Laced into the narrative of his thriller are insights into how the artistic thoughts works and the way scripts and performs get written. Or not.
Edward Albee got here to fame along with his two one-act performs “The American Dream” and “The Zoo Story,” which had been carried out on the identical night. These days, theatergoers need their leisure to be brief. As a lot as I actually don’t like one-person performs, I’d pay to see a double invoice of “Harry Clarke” and “The Unknown.”
