A documentarian wants to make a film about the Devil, who has conveniently taken human form. In describing the experience, the documentarian says he expects it “to be confusing and incomplete.” So it is with Longacre Lea’s Something Past in Front of the Light.
A study of the Devil’s incomprehensibility, Something Past was written and directed by Kathleen Ackerley, Longacre Lea’s own Artistic Director. The Documentarian (Christopher Henley) comes across the Devil in physical form, and the two agree to make a documentary. During the project, the Devil (Alexander Strain) provides surreal home movies of his supposed parents, of his prom date, even of the director and P.A. he hired to direct the Crucifixion. Things appear to be going well, with the Narrator (Daniel Vito Siefring) becoming reality-show-watching buddies with the infernal one, until the “infernal” part comes to the fore. When the faith-filled Cameraman (Jason Lott) goes looking for a missing team member, Strain’s Devil shines as a chaos-bringing madman.
Strain and Henley make an excellent acting pair. Henley’s Documentarian is realistically drawn, a harried artist trying to be true to his vision. Strain’s Devil is impossibly alien and truly scary when describing either cognitive dissonance or disembowelment. They and the other main actors are backed up by a chorus of entertainers who punctuate the heady dialogue with absurdity. Carlos Bustamante and Jay Hardee were great as the Crucifixion directors and side-splitting as two other men claiming to be the devil. Ashley DeMain and Stephanie Roswell fill out the ensemble appearing behind the giant TV screen in the back of the three-sided arena stage, showing us interviews and reality shows and even what might be God at one point.
Something Past features clever intertextuality, some funny moments, and some points of terror, but unfortunately it also suffers from its subject. Ackerley set out to write the most-true play about the Devil. She may have succeeded. But her Devil is so different, so alien to humanity that, when he is not lying, the truth he tells cannot be understood. In the play, the Devil claims to have killed someone. Then he insists he didn’t. Then he gets semantic. At no point do we actually find out what happened, which is frustrating after the second hour. The play ends with nothing being resolved, with no reason for anything that has happened, and no way to comprehend it. Even the ending is so confusing that the audience did not even know if it ought to exit, even after most of the actors took their bows.
Longacre Lea’s offering this year is a study in evil. Like its frequently-referenced predecessor The Exorcist, the evil on display is inexplicable and powerful. But unlike the classic movie, there’s no payoff, no stairs-falling finale. The story is fascinating and does entertain in some sparkling moments, but it’s a little long to come out of with nothing to show for it.
Something Past in Front of the Light runs Wednesdays through Sundays at the Callan Theatre until September 4. Check online for tickets.
