Review: EXTREMITIES at Tower Grove Abbey

Intense, poignant, and painted with shades of grey, Extremities, the latest production from Stray Dog Theatre, is psychological drama at its best. Well-acted and fraught with moral ambiguity, the production is compelling, evocative and suspensefully relentless. This adapatation ofWilliam Mastrosimone’s play explores the thin line between getting revenge and becoming the thing you hate.

Directed by Gary F. Bell and Jude Hagene, the plot centers on Marjorie, a woman who is physically assaulted while alone at home. Her attacker, Raul, is sleezy, unsavory, and mentally disturbed. Clever and violent, he has been casing out the place, and know everything about her.

Physically and psychologically menacing, he poses great peril to Marjorie. Scared but defiant, she refuses to yield to her assailant. Fighting for her life, she fights back by spraying her invader with bug spray. After rebuffing his attack she turns the tables by tying Raul up in the fireplace.  

With Raul now a captive of his would-be victim, the tide changes. Hellbent on vengeance, Marjorie sacrifices her compassion and tortures him. Showing no mercy, she is steadfast in her belief in killing him and burying him in with in the yard.

The tension rises with each passing scene as Marjorie and her captive clash over his fate. With no obvious evidence of home invasion or assault, Raul taunts her, saying that both the police and legal system will let him walk.

This further enrages Marjorie, whose bloodlust clouds her judgement. The situation doesn’t improve when her two roommates, Terry and Patricia, return home to find a man bound and begging for mercy.

Aware of their secrets, Raul plays the women’s fears off of one another. His coniving forges trust issues between the roommates. With the seeds of discontent sewn, he hopes that disrupting their unity will lead to his freedom.

Exploring the dark psychology between victim and aggressor, Extremities tests the belief system of Marjorie and her roommates as they fend off Raul’s manipulative conversations. Although they are determined to stick together, the fate of their intruder is a source of dissension for Patricia, Terry, and Marjorie, each of whom has their own ideas on dolling out justice.

The angst reaches a fever pitch in the second act as the dialogue between the invader and the women reaches a gritty climax. As Raul accepts his fate, Marjorie learns that getting even with her assailant comes with an emotional and physical price.

Exploring themes of invasion, privacy, torture, and revenge, the production is profoundly disturbing. A fascinating character study of how far the human psyche will go to quench its desire for reprisal, Extremities pulls no punches.

Stray Dog veteran Claire Coffey gives the performance of her career as Marjorie. Underscoring that Raul has messed with the wrong person, she gives her character a blend of ferocity and vulnerability. This duality allows her to explore the textures of a woman pushed to the brink. Vivacious and violent, her appearance boldly brings the dynamics of power to the forefront of the play.

Onstage, Andrew Woodard is creepy as hell. Starring as Raul, he feeds off the energy of Coffey, giving his character a range of aspects (mental illness, madness, cruelty, and violence, to name a few) that make his actions truly gruesome. Switching on a dime from victim to antagonist, he delivers an electrifying performance.

Lisa Hinrichs’ company debut is also impressive as Terry. At first appearing as a willowy violet, her character is revealed to be so much more. Her combative scenes with Coffey help propel the play’s nervosity. Here she gives audiences a lot to chew on as tensions rise.

Also turning in a strong company debut is Lynett Vallejo as Patricia. As the most level-headed of the roommates, her performance brims with confidence and assuredness, making her the perfect foil for her co-stars. Her scenes with Hinrichs and Coffey are amongst the show’s best.

Playing on the notion that a person can be a victim and a perpetrator, Extemities strips away the rancor to give audiences raw emotions that facilitate terrible actions. Gloriously blurred, the lines between right and wrong clash onstage.

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