BWW Reviews: Theatreworks Examines Decay and Disillusionment in DETROIT

The audience sits on either side of a shared backyard flanked by two houses. At first glance structurally identical, closer examination revels distinct differences. One house has a clean patio set, new curtains, and a well-tended window box of flowers. The other shows obvious signs of neglect: peeling paint, dead grass, a rusty charcoal grill tucked away in a corner.

Such is the setting for Lisa D'Amour's Detroit: a "first ring" suburb built in the 1950s or 60s. Once a place of upward mobility for the Boomer generation, now it shows significantly less promise. (D'Amour's title evokes, if not necessarily the setting, the economic struggles which constantly hang over the character's heads.) But it's home for two thirty-something couples who end up forging a bizarre, chaotic relationship out of the shared need to find something to banish their crippling anxiety and despair. Mary (Shannon Haragan) and Ben (Greg Wise) are white-collar readjusting after the latter lost his bank job; Kenny (Todd d'Amour) and Sharon (Carley Cornelius) met in rehab and are trying to stay clean and put their lives back together. During the course of several backyard barbeques and chats, it doesn't take long for the tensions, bitterness, and secrets to come boiling out.

The "dark side of suburbia" theme has been explored extensively, but D'Amour doesn't just expose the dirty little secrets behind a respectable veneer. Her broader themes are how people cope with hopelessness and fear in a time when "the American dream" is more often a punchline than a goal and the community dynamic envisioned by the builders of the inner suburbs is a thing of the past. ("The word (neighbor) is archaic," Sharon declares in one of the play's many stream-of-conscious monologues.) The characters retreat into different forms of escapism: drinking, Thoreau-esque fantasies of getting back to nature, and finally a frenzied abandon with destructive consequences.

The play throws slightly more focus on the female characters, and the ladies rise to the challenge. Cornelius (a welcome return to Theatreworks after her stunning, Henry-nominated turn in last season's Venus in Fur) is vibrant, sensitive, and slightly crazed as Sharon, and smoothly navigates her way through D'Amour's seemingly ordinary, surprisingly insightful dialogue. As Mary, Haragan enters chatty and cheerful, then gradually reveals the character's demons in a natural way. Wise and d'Amour tend to fade into the background, but get a little of their own back in a scene where the men let loose a little testosterone.

Detroit loses some steam towards the end, with a wild bacchanal and a significant scene change both stretching a touch too long. But the final revelations are an effective conclusion to the themes of disconnection and alienation from others, and it ends on a nice grace note of hopefulness. After all, sometimes you need to lose something to recognize what you have.

DETROIT plays at the Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theatre now through February 8th, Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 4pm and Saturday matinees on January 31st and February 7th at 2pm. For tickets, contact the box office at 719-255-3232 or visit theatreworkscs.org. Due to language and adult themes, the play is recommended for audience members over 16.

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