A one-act, performance length monologue, David Rabe’s Suffocation Theory sneaks up on us. Adapted from his short story, published in The New Yorker, it tells the story of a middle-aged guy who returns to his apartment, only to find that his wife, Amanda, is moving them, roughly 5 blocks away. His protests fall on deaf ears, the moving men are on the way. When they arrive, the new neighborhood is “chaotic and desolate”, but Amanda runs from room to room, shouting: “I love it! I love it!” Reed, their new, contentious roommate, locks horns with him, early on. Reed is a schmuck, wielding a pistol and trailing water from the bathroom. We later discover he is also Amanda’s paramour. At a party he meets the prophetess Cassandra, doomed to forecast true predictions, but never believed. Meanwhile, Amanda and Reed continue to diminish his existence, acting as if he is invisible.
At the outset, our hero gives us a litany of the state of the world. If it feels somewhat prolonged, it is certainly appropriate to our present day tribulations, and the ordeal we have endured since 2016. He describes his addiction to the news, one horrible event after another, bombings, spree killings, destructive weather, seemingly endless catastrophes, commented upon by experts; who try to help him navigate the atrocities that pummel us. Night and day. It doesn’t take long to see Rabe is addressing current, profoundly disturbing events that have besieged us, with little or no relief. They are detailed, but not enough to point to particular items. He meets a group of suits (at the aforementioned party) proclaiming they must help the president. Who knows more about anything than anybody else. Who is in trouble. A president who needs to be understood and liked.
It is fairly astonishing that Rabe has found a way to dramatize and comprehensively interpret an onslaught, that might easily presage the end of days. He has a gift for imbuing violence with of a kind of poetry, but more than that, revealing the forces driving ubiquitous adversity and viral suffering. An inspired metaphor depicts our hero struggling with the dilemma to either embrace or surrender empathy. Suffocation Theory begins grounded in verisimilitude, but gradually takes on the disjointed narrative of a fever dream. Visions hysterical and (gratefully) absurd come one after the other, sadly held together by the glue of the recognizable. Grim though it may be Suffocation Theory offers some clarity during these days of despondency and disappointment, placing them in the context of history, satire, pathos, fable and the surreal.
Undermain Theatre has done a remarkable job, bringing Suffocation Theory to the virtual platform. With direction by Jake Nice, camera work by Marc Rouse, performance by Bruce DuBose, et al, they have created a memorable and poignant experience in a genre still stumbling through its baby steps.
Part of Undermain’s Virtual Whither Thou Goest America Festival, David Rabe’s Suffocation Theory plays April 7th-May 2nd, 2021. 3200 Main Street, Dallas, TX 75226. 214-747-5515. www.undermain.org