With 'End' result, Next affirms human nature
REVIEW | Wycoff hilarious as Jesus, brilliant as Hawking
They are four people in various states of spiritual hunger, with one of them binging on faith, another forgetting to eat, a third secretly snacking on science and a fourth happily omnivorous. Yet whatever the state of their "appetites" might be, the characters in "End Days," Deborah Zoe Laufer's exceedingly smart, goofily apocalyptic tragicomedy about life in these United States seven years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, provide plenty of food for thought and an array of bittersweet side dishes.
As part of a season of plays at Evanston's Next Theatre that deal with calamities of ecology, faith and war, "End Days" might just turn out to be the most restorative. And you can thank physicist Stephen Hawking, Elvis Presley, the biblical Noah, and, yes, Jesus, all in the same breath.
When: Through Nov. 29
Where: Next Theatre, 927 Noyes, EvanstonTickets: $25-$40
Phone: (847) 475-1875, ext. 2
At the center of Laufer's play is the Stein family, nominally Jewish New Yorkers who have sought refuge in some suburban outpost. Arthur Stein (a performance of pitch-perfect understatement by the wonderful William Dick), is a man in a deep depression who still can't deal with the fact that he eluded the fate of his 65 employees in the World Trade Center. His wife, Sylvia (Laura T. Fisher, expertly driven and neurotic), also is in a state of post-traumatic stress. Terrified the world is on the brink of destruction, she has recently "found Jesus" and become a busy proselytizer, preparing her family and neighbors for "The Rapture" and eternal salvation -- something that Judaism doesn't offer.
Angered and embarrassed by her mother's radical transformation, the Steins' brainy teenage daughter, Rachel (the compulsively watchable Carolyn Faye Kramer), is going through a classic goth-style rebellion. But she also is caught quite off guard by an impossibly nerdy new classmate, Nelson Steinberg (the uncannily good Adam Shalzi), who, in his own nutty way is something of a reverse-Jesus, even if he dresses as Elvis.
Born gentile, Nelson has been adopted by a Jewish couple and is preparing for his bar mitzvah. He has a passion for science that he shares with Rachel, but he's also a natural healer who helps raise her dad from the dead and ease her mom's anxiety and isolation.
All but stealing the thunder here is Joseph Wycoff who plays Jesus (hilariously deflecting Sylvia's efforts to extract a date for the end of days), but is especially brilliant as Hawking. His portrayal of this genius (and Laufer's aptly droll lines), are worth the price of a ticket.
Shade Murray has directed with zest and a fine sense of the play's delicate balance of humor and fervor. And though "End Days" can be a tad too cute at times, and has a few too many endings, it also manages to restore faith in human nature. A neat trick.