It is not easy to pull off a two-character show successfully, especially when working in an unforgiving space with bad acoustics, uncomfortable seating, and creaky noises from the floor up above where passersby trod ever so heavily. And yet, that is just what Sound Theatre Company has managed to do with the first production in their new Making Waves Series featuring Enda Walsh’s mid-90s coming of age story, “Disco Pigs.”
It does take a bit of time at first to acclimate oneself to the quirky Cork accents used by the actors in the echoey space of the Ballard Underground, but before long our ears adjust and we get swept along in the story of Pig & Runt (played respectively by Fox Rain Mathews and Alyssa Kay), and from then on there is ‘lots o’ craic to be had, to be sure, to be sure’ as the Irish would say.
Directed by Gianni Truzzi, this spectacularly acted short drama is a bit of a cross between Bogosian’s “Suburbia” and the hit 90s film “Transpotting” (without the heroin abuse). It follows the life-long friendship of our two 17-year old hoodlum-protagonists as they build a world of their own in the economically depressed city of Cork, or what they call “Pork” (insert piggish grunts and snorts here).
Truzzi keeps the focus on the acting by offering up a minimalist set composed primarily of movable boxes that take us around various locales of the city: from bus stations and taxi rides to the ocean, to the bedrooms and disco palaces where “Pig” and “Runt” live out the days of their violent and alcohol-infused young lives. And where the scenic and lighting design by Richard Schaefer might be somewhat lacking in spectacularity, the excellent sound design by Lindsey Morck masterfully fills in the gaps. But again, as a disclaimer, the set design was appropriate all the same; it was functional and flexible, which allowed the actors to work their magic – which they did!
Mathews and Kay have a wonderful chemistry together, and both successfully channeled their inner-teenager in order to give a compelling and realistic interpretation of the confusion, angst and turmoil that colors the hormonally volatile period of life known as ‘adolescence.’
With a running time of just around an hour, “Disco Pigs” is a pleasant reminder that it does not take big sets, fanciful costumes, and over-the-top stagecraft to deliver a good show. Take a good writer, a good director, and two talented actors and you have the ingredients for a riveting night of theatre.
Disco Pigs plays from September 20th – October 6th at the Ballard Underground, 2220 NW Market Street. Tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/259302. Check the website, www.SoundTheatreCompany.org for more info.
