Forum Theater's Disquieting Marisol
Forum Theater's Marisol is essentially about angels, but it is the demons haunting its characters whose presence are more heavily felt in this dark, arresting production.
The work centers around the title character, a woman struggling to get by in her dangerous Bronx neighborhood in a much more apocalyptic borough than we're used to. After all, God's looking elsewhere, angels are revolting and those of them with guardian status are leaving their charges to fend for themselves.
What results is a dystopian universe that Forum does a phenomenal job in creating. Whether it be creepy costumes (garbage-accented angel wings, for example), shrill musical interruptions or frightfully tense moments (try not to quake in fear as a masked Nazi steps slowly and determinedly toward a victim, gasoline can in hand), director Alexander Strain has all the accents right.
The play is written by Jose Rivera, who was behind References To Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, which was given a compelling treatment by Rorschach Theater not long ago. The language in Marisol has the same lilting, poetic quality, even as it conveys a bleaker storyline.
There are no casting missteps here. Marisol herself is a haunting mixture of security and helplessness, when seen through the lens of Veronica del Cerro's performance. Holly Bass lends an ethereal, punk presence to her role as Angel, and Patrick Bussink ably juggles widely divergent roles, lending particular weight to the part of a mutilated victim of the rioting Nazis.
Marisol accomplishes what few theatrical productions do - it manages to keep the viewer on edge from start to finish. Not a small feat, considering most of those demons are in our own imagination.
Marisol runs through April 5 at H St. Playhouse. Tickets are available online.