Playwright: Jeremy Menekseoglu
At: Dream Theatre, Holy Covenant Church, 925 W. Diversey
Phone: (773) 865-4486; $15
Runs through: July 18
Despite the ringing acoustics of Holy Covenant Church, and the absence of air conditioning, Sister 121 sustains a grim appeal through most of its long, brutal and utterly humorless two-and-a-half hours. Credit goes to the small, focused, physically intense acting ensemble of Rebecca Lincoln (Sister 121), Theresa Ro (Sister 58), Anna Weiler (Sister 11), Kyle Carroll (Gladys Slaughter) and Jeremy Menekseoglu (Brother Harmony). Menekseoglu also is author, co-director and sound designer, so most of the glory or shame is his.
Sister 121 centers on power and pecking order in a bloodthirsty fascistic regime of the near future. God and alcohol are equally illegal under vicious Articles of Humanity that claim authority from ‘the absolute will of the majority.’ The regime has created a deprived and ignorant underclass of abused, disfigured and unmarried women. Forced to live in group homes lacking even running water, they have become the male-dominant state’s murderous street enforcers and casual rape victims.
Into this quickly sketched premise, playwright Menekseoglu inserts two destabilizing forces: the daughter (Gladys) of an anti-regime hero, and a brutal regional capo (Brother Harmony). As a political prisoner in the female group home, Gladys predictably subverts the household, even as Harmony—also predictably—selects the prettiest young girl as his personal pet.
Menekseoglu’s play is at its best in imitation of the relentless fervor of Greek tragedy with its unsentimental and sometimes-lurid descriptions of horrific actions taking place off stage. The stately delivery (although sometimes stentorian), the statuesque postures also recall Greek drama, especially performed against the completely unadorned classical apse of the church. But the chorus of women is just three. Sometimes we want to see and hear the multitude whom Sister 121—the alpha female—frequently addresses.
The Greeks also had the gift of brevity, which Menekseoglu does not. He could cut 15 minutes from the work by eliminating repetitive scenes in which Brother Harmony and Sister 121 assert their authority. Why someone doesn’t whack Sis in the head I’ll never know; for despite the title it’s not Sister 121’s story. She sets nothing in motion but only reacts to others. Indeed, in Act II the powerful sister inexplicably crumbles when threatened with a wooden mallet, and 10 minutes of political dialectics from Gladys Slaughter. The play’s about manipulation not politics, and Menekseoglu’s dialectics are neither original nor interesting. Gladys must win the hearts of the other women, not their minds. Menekseoglu also should reduce Brother Harmony, a secondary character who’s seduction techniques are clichés and who’s side plot with Sister 11 ultimately does not affect the main story, but only his own character. Such tightening could make Sister 121 a more effective style piece and commentary on the manipulation of fear.