Will Eno's "The Flu Season" begins with a man named Prologue breaking the fourth wall to set the scene. The audience tensed noticeably on our visit, no doubt figuring they knew what kind of self-indulgent, "experimental" theater they were in for. They had no idea. Happily, the expressive, playful script defies both expectations and theatrical convention, a difficult undertaking at a point in history when even breaking from convention has become conventional.
Self-consciously intelligent, dancing ever on the edge of absurdity, "The Flu Season" takes place at a "Psychiatric Retreat Center," at which the dog-eared man (Matt Holzfeind) meets woman (Alice Wedoff) scenario receives a painful injection of reality. Faced with a love story gone M.I.A., Prologue (Cory Krebsbach) loses faith, while his cynical colleague, Epilogue (John Henry Roberts), welcomes the plot's attrition.
As fast-talking off-the-wall patients, Holzfeind and Wedoff are tremendously effective; Wedoff in particular commands rapt attention. Equally successful are the bemused Doctor/Nurse team, William J. Watt and Darrelyn Marx, both boasting enviable comedic timing. Roberts, determinedly optimistic, and Krebsbach, wild-eyed and dismal, embody their roles nicely, rounding out the cast.
As riveting as the actors are, the real star of this play is the caged panther of a script. Ambivalent and rife with wordplay, "The Flu Season" is at once manic and strangely contained. In director Jeremy Wechsler's able hands, the play thrives, not a cringe-worthy moment in sight.
Reviewed by Centerstage!
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