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A night of questions without answers.

Friday May 25, 2007.     By Colin Douglas

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Edward Albee's "The Lady From Dubuque" could have been "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Part II." Like "Virginia Woolf," the evening begins with a drunken party peopled with verbally-abused guests and a mystery character. Unfortunately the night offers plenty of questions but very few explanations.

Sam, played by a heavy-mannered Stephen Dunn, opens the play imploring, "Who am I?" leading his wife and two neighboring couples through a late-night game of 20 questions. The inquiry haunts the play at every turn, yet Albee fails to provide a satisfying answer; on top of that, there's little hope that this Sam will supply much of the missing heart in this play.

As Jo, Sam's terminally ill wife, Jenn Remke is like a vat of acid alternately grimacing, screaming with pain and lashing out at her husband and guests. Drinks are swilled, insults are exchanged and the guests leave without any reconciliation. Sam tries to carry Jo upstairs to bed, but she is ultimately forced to struggle the rest of the way herself. In the final moments of the act, when the room empties out, in wander Elizabeth (the titular character) and Oscar (the lady's African-American traveling companion), played by Annie Slivinski and Colin K. Jones.

The second act is filled with more aggravating questions, emotional stress and physical violence as the neighbors inexplicably return, fight and leave destroyed. Sam is beaten and left tied to the staircase while Jo seems to find some comfort in the arms of the Lady from Dubuque. We never learn who these strangers are; Elizabeth claims to be Jo's mother though she could be Albee's version of the Angel of Death.

Unreasonable logic and an onslaught of maddening questions dominate this play, leaving both the characters and the audience confused. Only Elizabeth and Oscar offer a breath of fresh air in a room filled with so much repugnant cruelty. But the lack of humanity in this drama, which only lasted 12 performances when it opened on Broadway in 1980, makes for a very long evening of theater.

"The Lady from Dubuque" runs through June 17 at the Raven Theatre. 8:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets cost $10-$15.