Theatre Review: Liking the Unlikeable in On the Nature of Dust at NCTC.

Stephanie Timm is a member of New Century Theatre Company and a play she wrote, On the Nature of Dust, marks the third installment in this new company’s winning-streak career.

The creepy (but comedic) gothic tale is about a single mother, Shirley Bliss (Amy Thone), who must stand by and watch her teenage daughter, Clara (Brenda Joyner), literally devolve into a chimp, a newt and other progressively un-cuddly creatures.

Throughout the horrific metamorphosis, Shirley seeks guidance from both her Christian pastor (Michael Patten, left) and a high school biology teacher (Betsy Schwartz, left), who are each engaged in parallel identity crises. In a series of increasingly confrontational asides, they tromp through a predictable case of Intolerant Creationist v. Self-Righteous Scientist — and for all their fighting, are united only in their inability to explain the predicament of Clara Bliss.

Read the review after the jump.

These verbal swordfights between the “saved” and “enlightened” are entertaining, but, for me, the least interesting parts of the play.

Mind you, Patten and Schwartz pull off strong performances; but — like the too-obvious white trash accoutrements on the set (Astroturf, linoleum, vinyl chairs) — their dialogue feels superfluous next to the heart of the story, which eventually settles around the least likeable character: Shirley Bliss.

Even if you find the content of this play totally bizarre — you should not miss this troupe performing it. Director Kathleen Collins’ staging uses the entire space just right in every scene, whether characters are talking into coffee pots, sermonizing at podiums or hurling Grape-Nuts. Comedic timing is on point, and several choices subtluy demonstrate master  artistry.

Witnessing each stage of Clara’s mutation in subtle moments of hand-shadow-puppetry, for example, is seeing genius at work — it certainly transcends Joyner’s sway-backed performance as a monkey, which feels like even she only half-believes it.

Back to Shirley Bliss.

Amy Thone haunted me (in a good way) after her performance as Mrs. Zero in NCTC’s 2008 performance of the Adding Machine, and she’s doing it again in this role. Except this time, instead of Frankenstein make-up, her ghost will follow me in the guise of a poor man’s Mary-Louise Parker a la Showtime’s Weeds. (Melanie Burgess’ costume design, shown below, pins Shirley to the fence that stands between being proud of your body and being a little bit desperate.)

Shirley starts off as an irritating archetype: a mother who wears short skirts, keeps her makeup in a Caboodle and leaves her 10 year-old daughter alone at night without a babysitter. But soon, what’s under the thin skin that her polyester blouse barely covers is revealed: Shirley Bliss is a bona fide gothic heroine, played by a freakin’ hoss of a talented actress.

When the shit hits the fan — her daughter’s shit, in fact — Shirley finds herself all alone. No boyfriends or bake sales to distract from the bottom line of mothering. Unsure of whether or not God is punishing her, or leading her towards a miracle that will make her suffering worth it, she just carries on. Miserable, broke and stuck cleaning up strange animal poop, she carries on. Totally abandoned by both rational and spiritual belief systems, she carries on. She is suddenly so simply devoted, you can’t not cry with her when she breaks down while shopping in a pet store. You don’t cry because the daughter is gone — you cry because the mother has finally grown up.

And thanks to Thone’s performance, this evolution journey is not just a build up to a sly wink (as it might be, I imagine, if Charlie Kaufman wrote it).

As she visibly lowers the volume of her character in a key moment, I peel my eyes off Thone just in time to appreciate a few tears rolling down the cheeks of silent Bernie, Clara’s gangly boyfriend (played just right by Benjamin Harris, pictured below with Joyner). Seeing those tears, I realized, despite the bizarre foreground of this play, the background is really quite simple and heart-rending. In that background, Bernie has been quietly living out his own evolution through all of this with no punchlines, no gags...just profound sadness and strength...just like most of us would do.

The characters and predicaments in NCTC shows may be a little bit freakish — but they’re always feeling. So, get your erected self to a performance and let some multidimensional, sentient beings help you better understand the things you can’t control, and the things you just shouldn’t.

Photos by Chris Bennion

New Century Theatre Company
On the Nature of Dust
Thru May 30
Playing At ACT’s Falls Theatre
Tickets online or via 206.292.7676