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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2011 > August > 15 > Entry
Theater review: ‘Down the Drain’
When a person says his life is headed “down the drain,” it usually means that things are not going well.
That would be a severe understatement in the case of Ted, the central character in “Down the Drain,” a new show written and directed by A. John Boulanger and currently premiering at Hyde Park Theatre.
Ted (Martin Burke) is, to put it mildly, at a low point in his life. He sleeps on the bathroom floor of his New York apartment, a bottle of vodka nearby for comfort. He is low on money, facing eviction notices and battling an unnamed disease.
Just when it seems things can’t get any worse, Ted hears the voice of a woman emanating from his toilet. The voice belongs to Ivy (Meredith McCall), a composed, mysterious woman who claims to be in Utah, hearing him through her sink.
Ted and Ivy strike up a friendship. He reveals himself to her, telling her that he’s gay and confessing to odd habits like worrying his way through the alphabet (currently stuck on the letter c and chiggers). Ivy, a good listener, rarely tells much about her own life.
Ted ends up practically moving into the bathroom to keep up his connection with Ivy. Luckily, his bathroom is huge and plush (courtesy of set designer Ia Enstera) and stocked with everything he needs to get by — new clothes, his medications and five extra large bottles of vodka.
“Down the Drain’s” first act is fast, crisp and often very funny. The second act, though, is harder to follow. The show takes dark, increasingly bizarre turns as it winds toward a strange, sudden conclusion. Boulanger described the show as “a bleak comedy,” an accurate description of a show that frequently has a hard edge underneath the laughs.
It’s a pleasure to watch veteran actors Burke and McCall amuse and challenge each other. Burke gives a delightfully manic performance as the unhinged, increasingly confused Ted, and both performers handle Boulanger’s fast, clever, surprising dialogue with precision and heart.
Judd Farris makes a cameo as Ted’s vulgar and cocky brother, and Breanna Stogner gives several scene-stealing performances, most hilariously as Rachel, the perky and persistent telemarketer urging Ted to give up some financial information.
Ultimately, there is a lot to enjoy in this new play, especially the lightning-fast dialogue and the synergy between performers. Though some kinks still need to be worked out, “Down the Drain” intriguingly plays with ideas of reality and delusion, constantly challenging the audience to figure out what’s real and what’s a fantasy.
‘Down The Drain’
8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 28
Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd St.
Tickets: $15-$20, www.it-productions.org
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