A Journey Inside a suicide.chat.room
Tonya Beckman Ross in suicide.chat.room
It all sounds a bit bizarre, but movement and dialogue interact with success in suicide.chat.room, which interweaves Paulina Guerrero's choreography with actual lines taken from such Internet sites. The dancing provides a compelling emotional illustration, effectively articulating the tortured subjects' feelings of imprisonment, their isolation, and their uneasy connections with their fellow chatters, with none of it ever feeling too literal. Eerie, pulsing music drives it all along, and the cast works more as an ensemble in service to the text than a collection of established characters.
The play's lifted dialogue doesn't come across as particularly didactic, yet still leaves room to draw conclusions and ask questions. The strange form of camaraderie that exists between the participants is explored: chatters often find encouragement – but it's often encouragement to go forward with the deed. They may experience new friendships – but they're not the kind of lasting relationships which could alleviate their severe loneliness. There is tolerance and acceptance, but at what cost?
What can be most striking about suicide.chat.room is how matter-of-fact it all is. The characters are less likely to engage in painful monologues about what's driving their despair, and more apt to clinically debate the merits of particular drug cocktails or the likelihood a long fall will lead to a successful death. The casual morbidity underscores the function the rooms serve in providing what may be the only outlet for the afflicted to talk about one of society's few remaining taboos.
Suicide.chat.room, which clocks in at under an hour, is more an immersive experience than a progressive one. With the possible exception of company member Kimberly Gilbert's closing monologue, a thoughtful meditation on an individual's will to live or die, the work isn't so much moving towards a poignant conclusion as it is recreating a world few would experience otherwise. And while it's worthwhile to spend some eye-opening time in such a world, suicide.chat.room's brevity ultimately proves a blessing.
Suicide.chat.room runs through Feb. 13 at Flashpoint's Mead Theater Lab. Tickets are available online.