Slaughter City 

Reviewed by Terry Morgan
Coeurage Theatre Company
Through July 14  

The plight of the blue-collar worker and the struggle of union versus management is undeniably a worthy subject for drama. This is especially so now, when unions seem to be disappearing and blue-collar workers have watched their jobs become mechanized or shipped overseas. So a play about these topics should be most welcome. Unfortunately, Naomi Wallace’s Slaughter City, which deals with these issues, is a pretentious misfire, and the current Coeurage Theatre Company production is unable to transcend the material.

Roach (Tarina Pouncy) works in a meatpacking plant with her friend Maggot (Katelyn Gault), where both of them struggle under the harsh conditions of the job. The company manager, Baquin (Ilia Volok), is sexually abusive and cares more about a rare snail than his workers. On top of this, Roach has to fend off the amorous advances of her knife-obsessed co-worker, Brandon (Jamie H. Jung). A mysterious new colleague, Cod (Elspeth Weingarten), is urging union action against the company, but his opposite number, Sausage Man (Ted Barton), is there to see that the status quo is ever retained.

Pouncy does good work as the tough Roach, making the character credible, but even she can’t make a ridiculous subplot (involving a relationship with Brandon) work. Gault is also fine, but has less to work with in an underwritten role, except for a somewhat arbitrary romance with Cod. Barton has malevolent fun as Sausage Man, singing and employing a German accent, but Weingarten is somewhat monochromatic as Cod, limited by the opacity of the character as written. Volok portrays Baquin’s cluelessness and cruelty well in a committed performance. Jung is regrettably stuck with the most poorly written part; he’s saddled with an excess of overblown poetical dialogue, and his overly strenuous efforts don’t help to mitigate the situation.

Director Jer Adrianne Lelliott’s static pacing turns this two-and-a-half-hour show into an endurance trial, and Donna Eshelman’s affected choreography (did this piece really need dance interludes?) is the unnecessary icing on an unappealing cake. Playwright Wallace, writer of the excellent One Flea Spare, is heavy-handed here — and just bad. The central theme — workers’ struggle — is underserved and overshadowed by romantic subplots (including a ludicrous moment where people kiss with a knife held between their combined lips) and by time-traveling antagonists — characters so freighted with symbolic meaning they positively creak under the load. Also, ill-conceived dialogue delivers us gems such as: “Whatever became of the animal called Hope?” As written, this is one of the worst plays I’ve seen in years.

Coeurage Theatre Company has done plenty of great work, including Failure, A Love Story and The Secret in the Wings, but it is unable (appropriately enough for this slaughterhouse play) to make a silk purse from this sow’s ear.

The Historic Lankershim Arts Center, 5108 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood; Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m.; through July 14. www.couerage.org/slaughtercity. Running time: approximately 2 hours and 35 minutes with one intermission.