Shock for sale! Step on up and get your fresh, “white hot” batch of shock just West of Lenin in Fremont! It comes complete with “flashing lights, fog, violence, loud music, drug use, gun shots, profanity, blood, and loud ambient noise,” so warns the “audience note” inserted into the playbill. And it’s all packed nicely and neatly into a one-hour psychodrama brought to you by Marxiano Productions! (Insert wild applause here _____.).
Written by Gig Harbor’s very own Tommy Smith, and directed by Seattle Rep’s Associate Artistic Director, Braden Abraham, (who also plays “Bri,” one of the leads in this quadruple tour of bleakness), “White Hot” explores the darker sides of an unhappy domestic life and the self-destruction that ultimately ensues.
The play brings us into the miserable lives of a young couple named Lil and Bri. Lil (played by Kimberly Sustad) is a recovering drug addict, and is unenthusiastically pregnant with her first child. She is unhappily betrothed to a controlling and narcissistic husband who incessantly berates and degrades her.
Rounding out the cast is Lil’s sister, aptly named “Sis” (played by Hannah Victoria Franklin), who spends her days strung out on pills, pot and alcohol, while she engages in endless scenarios of promiscuous sex with random strangers. One of those strangers is the final character in this ménage à quatre, “Grig,” a mysterious and shadowy figure played by Ray Tagavilla.
Obviously, this is a heart-warming show intended for the whole family to enjoy, both the young and old (not!). Actually, it’s likely most appealing to the under-30 set, especially those who enjoy the dark and violent worlds of writers like Quentin Tarantino, which aren’t really my cup of tea.
Although I definitely appreciated the psychological aspects of this dark drama, the shock factor seemed gratuitous and immature. The playwright would do better to keep the focus on the well-written and penetrative dialogue, and let the audience use their imaginations when it comes to the sex and violence. I was glad that the play was only an hour long because I don’t think I could have stomached much more.
This aside, the acting was solid and the direction was delightfully daring, although there was a bit too much action that took place on the floor of the stage; and due to the seating arrangement, this made it difficult to see what was going on at crucial times for those of us seated in the back rows.
In conclusion, “White Hot” should be commended for its efforts to bring audiences some challenging “in-your-face” theatre, but there is some cleaning up that needs to happen in the script, particularly some fleshing-out of the characters and practicing some self-restraint when it comes to the sex and violence. I love a bit of shock just as much as the next guy, but bloody blowjobs and simulated, onstage anal sex scenes are a bit too self-indulgent for my taste. But to be clear, this is a pretty interesting show – just not for the faint of heart.