Jason is a nearly pathologically shy teenage boy, who helps his mother Margery stage puppet shows at their Lutheran church. Margery has recently divorced Jason’s dad, and mother and son are both feeling the trauma of loss. Jessica and Timothy also help with the puppets. Jessica is low-key and disaffected, Timothy hostile and ridiculously horny. Pastor Greg is a bit sanctimonious and none too subtly hitting on Margery. Tyrone is Jason’s constant protector and companion. He is foul-mouthed, abusive, confrontational, insulting and not afraid to fight back. Tyrone is Jason’s hand puppet, though it’s not entirely certain that Jason’s in control.
Tyrone isn’t merely a puckish enfant terrible’. He’s more ferocious than Rasputin and always goes for the jugular. His verbal assaults have the element of truth, but his reactions go far beyond the demands of assertiveness. Jason tries, to no avail, to rein Tyrone in. Margery has given in to Timothy’s crass seduction techniques. Pastor Greg’s attempts to alleviate the escalating chaos have only made things worse.
Playwright Robert Askins’ Hand to God is a brilliant satire on the contemporary Christian church, and its inability to relieve the pain and confusion of adults who wish to live responsibly. It’s no secret that the world is fraught with dilemmas and excruciating decisions, so when Tyrone makes deeply troubled Jason his “host”, he gets the perfect opportunity to wreak havovc in a quaint Texas Lutheran church. Tyrone may be vile and (metaphysically speaking) bestial but his viewpoint is the way of the world. Sadly, many, many people conflate coarse, over-simplified perception with authenticity. Sometimes, when dealing with an angry, aggressive soul, calling him an “asshole” seems real, if perhaps less than gracious. Tyrone (Satanic Puppet from Hell) gains traction in Jason’s congregation, because he knows they’re suffering, and that he can fob off his rage as “truth.”
I cannot tell you how or who swoops in to save sweet Jason and the other characters in Hand to God, but suffice to say Robert Askins has fashioned a flawless satire, chock full of jaw-dropping impropriety, subversive and diabolical ruminations, and shamelessly crude hilarity. It’s closing THIS weekend so hurry over there, whycancha?
Water Tower Theatre presents Hand to God, playing August 3rd-26th, 2018. 15650 Addison Road, Addison, TX, 75001. 972-450-6232. watertowertheatre.org