It was easy to get emotional during the opening moments of Seven Deadly Sins. For many audience members, including myself, this was their first theatrical performance featuring in-person actors since the beginning of the pandemic. To be sure, this wasn’t a conventional production, since attendees were seated outdoors while the actors mostly performed behind glass in storefront windows in the Meatpacking District, with their voices transmitted over headphones. But it sure as hell beat watching a Zoom play on your laptop.
First presented in a different version last year in Miami Beach, this inventive production features seven world-premiere one-acts inspired by the titular vices and written by a notable (and notably diverse) group of playwrights: Ngozi Anyanwu, Thomas Bradshaw, MJ Kaufman, Moisés Kaufman, Jeffrey LaHoste, Ming Peiffer, and Bess Wohl. There’s also a brief curtain-raiser (not that there’s a curtain) set in purgatory in which a mistress of ceremonies, lip-synching drag queen Shuga Cain, welcomes us (“Isn’t it good to be out of the house?” she asks, unnecessarily) and humorously describes the evening’s logistics.
[Read Melissa Rose Bernardo’s ★★★★☆ review here.]
The production, directed by Moisés Kaufman, proves admirable in its efficient traffic management of a complicated staging. The audience is divided into groups of 22, each led by an usher who guides them to the different performance spaces and handles any technical issues. Since the streets are open to the public, there are myriad distractions in the form of often loud passers-by who are understandably startled to encounter the sometimes scantily clad performers in windows while heading to their favorite trendy restaurant. This being New York City, they mainly took it in stride, although cellphone cameras were definitely getting a workout.
It would be a pleasure to report that the plays themselves lived up to the cleverness of the staging. Unfortunately, they mostly come off as extended blackout sketches straining either for profundity or provocation, and sometimes both. Bradshaw, in typical fashion, aims to shock with “Hard,” a mildly amusing ribald comedy in which a sex-starved wife (Shamika Cotton), wearing a sheer negligee, desperately attempts to seduce her slacker, videogame-obsessed, overweight husband (Brandon J. Ellis). Complete with graphic descriptions of both characters’ erotic preferences, the piece would feel at home in Screw magazine.
Not surprisingly considering their inspirations, most of the works are on the darker side. In MJ Kaufman’s “Wild Side,” a trans YouTube influencer, Guru, (Cody Sloan), discovers that his exhortations result in negative consequences for his followers including a 16-year-old trans South Dakotan teenager (Bianca Norwood) whose life is ruined after taking Guru’s advice to come out. Wohl’s “Lust” features a nearly naked pole dancer (Donna Carnow, displaying fierce athleticism) revealing her inner thoughts (voiced by Cynthia Nixon)—ranging from organizing her shopping list to memories of her being physically assaulted by a customer—as she goes through her physically demanding routine.
Anyanwu’s “Tell Me Everything You Know” proves an uninspired riff on the Garden of Eden story, with a naked Eve (Morgan McGhee) succumbing to the temptation of the apple offered to her by a clothed woman (Shavanna Calder), with predictably unfortunate results. Moisés Kaufman’s “Watch,” about a financially desperate man (Eric Ulloa) who resorts to jumping into his father’s grave to retrieve the expensive Rolex on the dead man’s wrist, labors too obviously for its twist ending.
The evening’s most effective pieces are LaHoste’s “Naples” (performed on a makeshift stage in the street), a clever, sophisticated comedy set at the Palace of Versailles in which a princess (Caitlin O’Connell) getting on in years schemes to eliminate the threat of her husband’s much younger male lover (Andrew Keenan-Bolger); and Peiffer’s disturbing “Longhorn,” about the ill-fated encounter between a dominatrix (Kahyum Kim) and a new client (an intense Brad Fleischer) who’s obsessed with Asian women.
Seven Deadly Sins ultimately proves more notable for its unique environmental staging than its thinly conceived playlets which probably wouldn’t stand up well under more conventional circumstances. The performers, who go through their paces nine times a night, deserve ample credit for their commitment to the material, not to mention being exposed to random onlookers, while Kaufman’s staging is a marvel of logistical expertise. Special kudos to scenic/site designer David Rockwell, who’s transformed the already lively streets of the Meatpacking District into a delightful playland for adventurous theatergoers.
Seven Deadly Sins opened June 29, 2021, the street-venue performance beginning at 94 Gansevoort Street, and runs through July 25. Information and tickets: sevendeadlysinsnyc.com
