Theater Reviews

Jul 5, 2008 - Reno's Nevada Rep presents "Henceforward" in a straight forward production that's as funny as it's cautionary

By Jack Neal

It’s my guess “Henceforward” portends a future few want. Alan Ayckbourn’s 34th play is not quite a “Back to the Future,” but it gives lots of pauses for contemplation on its way to his take on society’s near future.

Leave it to director Sue Klemp to come up with summer fare that’s both funny and profound. Ayckbourn’s comedy-drama “Henceforward” is about what civilization has in store for itself when technology replaces human bonding. It’s an unsettling British play that plays itself out in the London flat of Jerome, a synthesizer composer nerd whose electronic toys have long since outstripped his love for wife and child. Set in a near future where law and order have broken down, Jerome is a captive indoors in a jungle of cords and beeps out of horror at going outdoors and facing a deadbeat local gang of thugs called Daughters of Darkness.

“Henceforward” steps boldly into a world of masculine obtuseness and social disintegration. Jerome is the all too typical selfish male whose demand for a Stepford wife just won’t do, only a completely mechanical mate will. It’s as though Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” has fused with “A Clockwork Orange.” “Henceforward” is a malevolent drama about masculine inadequacy and social collapse.

Ayckbourn scores many unsettling points and troubling questions. Men treat women like dummies, only to become so unfeeling only a dummy fits their scheme of what a mate should be. Men are pushed into an unforgiving wall where efficiency is more important than empathy or morality. Is intelligence no more important than programming? Is what people have to say really someone else’s script? Is a competent machine any worse than a dim-witted social worker who spews clichés? Are human beings really any better than a well-programmed machine? “Henceforward” buys laughter at the price of uneasy thoughts. Even more frightening, the play just might mirror what society is becoming.

As Jerome, in a crisp, pointed characterization, Zachary L.J. Bortot is mad, maddening and laughable. As the dummy doll of the play’s first two-thirds, Emily Anderson is wonderful, as she also is when she drops being Nan the android and becomes Corinna, Jerome’s estranged wife. In the flip-flop role of Zoe, an actor and Jerome’s lover then Nan the android in the play’s final third, Kathy Irwin delivers handsomely.

Camille Abelow fits the role of Geain, the androgynous daughter of dysfunctional parents, to queasy perfection. With appropriate awkwardness, Kevin A. Davis plays the social worker who’s programmed for everything but connecting with people.

Sue Klemp has directed in her usual perceptive, no-nonsense way for a clear view of what Ayckbourn has written. Michael Fernbach’s designs for set and lighting are up to his usual standards of excellence. Saori Okamoto’s costumes fit the play’s demands.

At its best, and this production comes close, “Henceforward” touches the heart as much as it touches the funny bone. It’s what fine theater should be – delightfully entertaining with a fascinating glimpse at what could be the future of the human condition.

“Henceforward” is a Nevada Repertory Company production being presented as part of the Reno is Artown Festival at the Redfield Studio Theater, 1664 North Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada, July 3 (the performance reviewed), 5, 9, 10, 11, 12 (2008) at 7:30 p.m. For information call 775-784-4ART, 775-784-7278. 800-225-2277, or go online at www.unr.edu/arts.