The Beautiful People
Reviewed by Iris Mann
Rogue Machine at the Matrix Theatre
Through July 31
At the conclusion of this play by Tim Venable, we realize that here is a very timely work; the play crawls inside the violent mindset of disaffected youth, the kind of incel teens often responsible for mass shootings. Until its conclusion, although the performances and direction are first-rate, one wonders why we are watching two young men horsing around and speaking in a raunchy vernacular. Many audiences may find it illuminating to spend more than an hour observing such interplay, which they might view as extreme. But for this critic the interaction seemed fairly characteristic of many teenage youths who don’t progress to the point reached at the end of this drama, and there was not enough humor, titillation or sense of suspense to keep me engaged until the play’s climax. At that point, the story could well bring to mind events such as those at Columbine or Uvalde.
The setting is a basement bedroom in a suburban house during the 1990s. Eric (Alex Neher) and his friend Dylan (Justin Preston), are spending the school night in Eric’s room. They roughhouse, sometimes cruelly, drink soda, watch TV and talk explicitly about girls and what they’d like to do to them. They also compete in tests of strength, in games, and over the size of their penises, among other items of contention.
They brag about fictitious sexual conquests, when neither of them has had much, if any, real experience. Eric, the macho leader of the pair, appears to be afraid of his father, who was a Vietnam vet. At the same time, the youth is highly impressed by his father’s tales of rampant killing during the war, some of which he repeats to Dylan. One comes to realize that Eric doesn’t fit in with his peers at school. He says that what he hates about this place is that everyone makes him feel small; in fact, he hates everyone.
Dylan, on the other hand, is the follower. He complains that he wants everyone to be nice to him, because he’s nice, and smart, and has a good heart, but everyone is “so mean and dismissive.”
There are hints about how this piece will end, particularly in the very dark story that Dylan has written and that he reads aloud to Eric. But until then the hints are not that overt. In the final moments the two youths pack up an arsenal of weapons, and one wonders how they managed to accumulate such a stockpile. Is that the playwright’s comment on America and its easy access to guns?
All that said, it must be acknowledged that the dialogue is ultra-realistic and the interplay totally truthful. Director Guillermo Cienfuegos choreographs the action skillfully, keeping the actors in almost constant motion on a stage that is virtually level with the audience that surrounds it.
Neher and Preston give excellent performances. Neher is, by turns belligerent, controlling and needy, while Preston also projects neediness as well as an alienated quality and resentment at being unappreciated. The two completely inhabit their roles.
Matrix Theatre,7657 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles; Fri., Sat., and Mon,. 8:00 p.m.; Sun. 3:00 p.m.; through July 31. 855-585-5185 or https://www.roguemachinetheatre.net/ Running time: 80 mins.with no intermission.
