So the spring drama department production is about aliens? Was last semester's more traditional The Merry Wives of Windsor really that bad of an idea?
Even the most avid and faithful lover of plays has to stop and think whether the $5 is worth seeing a play about aliens and a bunch of people whining about modern life. But have faith: the members of the department will hold your interest, keep the playwright's concerns real and accessible, and even shock and amuse you.
Leaving the Balch Arena Theatre both at intermission and at the end, there is not a person in the audience who will not stand up and wonder what has happened and how the actors pulled it off. There is an enigmatic force present on the set. It isn't the glow-in-the-dark stars hanging from the ceiling, and it's not the strange sounds of TV shows played during intermission. It's not even the aliens that make this show magical. It's the actors.
Each of the seven actors puts out so much energy that every scene, however strange, is accessible and enjoyable for the audience. There is no star of the show - the play has been evenly cast and beautifully worked-out. Josh Bauml's performance as Jim, an aging man plagued by Alzheimer's disease, makes you forget that he's a freshman actor with little experience on the Tufts' stage. Rebecca Russell, a veteran of many department shows, plays his wife Evelyn. Her performance as a patient but heartbroken wife makes their relationship as a loving couple all the more real. Graham Griffin plays the other extreme: an adolescent growing up in the suburbs with no respect for family. Although the actors are in reality close in age, they represent entirely different generations, even different worlds.
Lauren D'Avella and Sarah Kauderer, stuck somewhere in the middle of this double generation gap as single mothers raising children, have the most to lament in their lives. They pull it off, however, without evoking memories of your mother whining. Charlie Semine's performance as the socially-inept conspiracy theorist is so funny that it would be tempting to say it stole the show, if the other actors weren't so damn good. And last but not least, David Hartnagel plays "Actor," who picks up little parts right and left, does voice-overs, convincingly playing each role to a "t," leaving some audience members wondering if they were performed by different actors.
The production staff must have had oodles of fun with this play. Constance Congdon, the playwright, gives many, many stage directions in the script. The first challenge with this piece, as with all others performed in the Balch Arena Theatre, is to adapt a traditional play into theatre in the round. The presentation is fascinating in itself. Between aliens giving voice-overs in the rafters, unexpected props and costumes showing up on stage, and sounds coming from different corners, you never know who will come out of where with what in hand. The costumes are simple but to the point; the idea is to make the play as current as possible, so don't expect Shakespearean garb. But then there are a few fantasy elements in the play, such as the B-Movie Alien and the "rites of masochism" that give room for interpretation for the production staff. And how they do!
The play is excellent, but there are a few elements that may not appeal to one and all. First, the play is undeniably strange (the plot is well explained in the program, in case you have trouble understanding what goes on). The cast draws you into the play, but it is composed of fragmented scenes arranged in a not-entirely-linear sequence. The concept of aliens looking down on humans and trying to understand them is usually humorous, but they come out of nowhere and their purpose is sometimes difficult to understand.
So the point is this: go see the play and you will have fun. But be forewarned, and don't expect to understand everything.
Tales of the Lost Formicans, April 20, 21 at 8 p.m., April 22 at 2 p.m., Balch Arena Theater, Tickets $5 with Tufts ID, 4.5 stars.
