Theatergoers who prefer plays that present straightforward realistic stories are unlikely to be big fans of the current generation of playwrights, who are stretching the boundaries of drama.
Annie Baker, Jackie Sibblies Drury, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins are just a representative few among the American writers whose bold deployment of time, space, and characterization take viewers into unexpected places.
Will Eno is another adventurous playwright who thoughtfully considers matters of life and death through unconventional dramaturgy.
The universal nature of life that Eno sometimes studies in works such as The Realistic Joneses and The Open House reminds some commentators of Samuel Beckett’s dramas.
[Read Elysa Gardner’s ★★★★ review here.]
To my way of thinking, there usually is a generous, kindly, and yes, downright old-school American sort of positive spirit glowing within Eno’s works—most noticeably in his Our Town-ish Middletown—that reminds me more of Thornton Wilder than Beckett. Although Wilder’s avant-garde plays, such as Pullman Car Hiawatha, and Eno’s innovational dramas are quite different in style, their content often detects and reflects the magic that glimmers beneath the mundane circumstances of day-to-day existence.
And so it is with The Underlying Chris, Eno’s lovely and touching new play that opened in its world premiere tonight at Second Stage’s off-Broadway Terry Kiser Theater.
Simply put, The Underlying Chris is a crib-to-grave account of one person’s life in 90 minutes.
The dozen or so brief episodes that Eno meaningfully details in chronological order appear to be typical of an unremarkable American life: Recovering from a minor sports injury as a tween. Encountering for the first time the person who will become their spouse. Moving into an office to begin a new career in middle age. Losing a driver’s license at the DMV due to failing eyesight. Spending an 80-something birthday in an assisted living facility.
So pass the years. As these vignettes accumulate, one can piece together a biography complete with the physical aches, behavioral quirks, and psychological pains that accrue over time. Meanwhile parents, lovers, friends, children, and grandchildren come and go.
The significant twist that Eno gives to this depiction of lifetime is that while the essence of the character always remains the same, its physical manifestation changes with every scene. At different times Chris is a Christine or a Krista. Sometimes this Christopher or Kristin is white, and sometimes he or she is a person of color.
The point that Eno apparently intends to make in this play is that essentially people are all alike in spirit regardless of gender and race. The Underlying Chris studies the universal nature of the soul. The seemingly incidental conversations that Topher or Kit or Khris share with other people in his/her existence support Eno’s theme regarding our common bonds as humans.
Not so incidental is a reflection that the character makes in old age. “I know exactly who I am, and I don’t know what I look like,” says the elderly, infirm Christiana. “I’m almost completely on the inside now. I’m going to miss my body. Going places, dancing, waving goodbye, all the different things a body can do. To think I ever had a problem with it … Be glad you have one, a body, any size shape color. Be glad you were there when the Universe was handing them out.”
It is fairly easy to go with the flow of The Underlying Chris, particularly if one pays attention to what’s said in its prologue, which broaches what the playwright intends to explore. So listen up.
Of course, the relatively uneventful middle class American life that Eno illustrates does not extend to people in disadvantaged or elite circumstances, let alone populations in Third World countries. However, a 90-minute play cannot be expected to cover every inch on the planet even when its theme considers universality.
Dressed more or less in contemporary clothes by Dede Ayite, some 11 actors ably portray the variations on Chris along with the others in his/her life. Designer Arnulfo Maldonado efficiently provides a series of different rooms and locations.
Kenny Leon, who delivers the premiere for Second Stage Theater, may not be the best director to handle Eno’s sensitive material. One wonders whether a more leisurely approach than Leon’s firm pacing might allow its significance to register with deeper effect upon viewers. Still, Leon and his acting ensemble offer a solid interpretation of a typically thoughtful and humane play by a significant American dramatist.
