A Misunderstanding

Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
Rubidor Productions
Through February 3

Just what does it mean to be human? Are men and women merely the sum of our neurons and biological processes, or is there a spiritual force that drives our actions, one that empirical science needs to acknowledge? That question has preoccupied playwright Matt Chait for some time, and in A Misunderstanding, directed by Elina de Santos, he strives to create a platform for airing differing opinions on the matter. Unfortunately, his effort to shape the debate into an involving dramatic vehicle is conspicuously unsuccessful; lacking a sound story and interesting believable characters, the play quickly morphs into an extended and quite literal back-and-forth polemic between a fervent defender of biological determinism and a former colleague who challenges those beliefs by positing an alternative foundation to consciousness and the self.

The central character, Bertram Cates (Chait), is a distinguished biologist and professor who’d been let go by the University of California for articulating the notion that there is a creationist force that propels our sense of self. (Note the character’s name is the same as that of the young high school biology teacher on trial in Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s drama, Inherit the Wind.) Apparently, and rather implausibly, all students and faculty in this particular biology department had to pledge to accept Darwin’s theories as absolute and eschew any opposing ones. Now Cates, who had defied that ban and lost his job for it, is suing for re-instatement in a civil trial in which the university’s position is represented by his former department head, Joshua Brownstein (Bruce Katzman), the man who gave him his pink slip. Also, rather implausibly, the community is up in arms; protests have been organized in support of Brownstein and the university and against Cates’s re-instatement.

A major portion of the play consists of a dialectical confrontation between these two individuals, which supposedly takes place in a courtroom. However, except for an occasional taped voiceover of a judge, who calls for a recess and later for a verdict, there’s no trial protocol on stage — no attorneys, no juries, no evidence. Instead, we watch as two guys on a spare set engage in long-winded exposition about ontological matters. The playwright does make one unpersuasive attempt to up the emotional ante when he has Brownstein remind Cates of the suicide of one of his students, Matthew Brady (same name as the prosecutor in Inherit the Wind), theoretically brought on by the doubts Cates’ theories sowed in the young man’s mind. But this registers as blatant contrivance, since it’s hard to believe that a challenge to the absoluteness of Darwin’s ideas would drive anyone to take their own life.

Otherwise, the relationship aspect of this drama revolves around Brownstein’s daughter Melinda (Amy-Helene Carlson) and her fiancé Howard (Dennis Renard), a former student of Cates who secretly supports the marginalized professor’s views about the nature of consciousness. When Melinda discovers that Howard has been going to Cates’s meetings and seminars, and that he plans to be a character witness for him in court, she feels betrayed enough to call off the wedding. Here again is a tempest in a teapot; it’s not as if the stakes are a prison term or worse for either Cates or her dad, both of whom stand only to lose an ideological argument.

The rankling artifice in this setup is exacerbated by the zero-sum chemistry between the engaged couple. Carlson’s weak albeit valiant efforts at character authenticity are stymied by Renard’s wooden delivery. Under de Santos’ direction, the two actors rarely touch or embrace, even though Howard is constantly declaring his love and pleading with Melinda to save their future.

As Cates, Chait becomes extraordinarily impassioned in defending his ideas, but his strong clear presence can’t compensate for the play’s clunky dialogue or the cerebral nature of his arguments. Call me lowbrow, but the relative truth of Darwinian theory pales beside issues of climate change, war, political repression, the impoverishment of billions of people worldwide and the danger to our republic posed by the clown in the White House. I’m not saying the root of consciousness is a topic unworthy of consideration but presenting it in such a contrived and hyperbolic way does the discussion a disservice.

Ruby Theatre at the Complex, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; through Feb. 3. (323) 960-4418 or www.plays411.com/misunderstanding. Approximately two hours and 10 minutes with an intermission.