The Skriker - Entropy Theatre
The Skriker – Entropy Theatre
Review by James Wilkinson
The Skriker is presented by Entropy Theatre. Written by Caryl Churchill. Directed by Joe Juknievich and Kayleigh Kane. Lighting Design by Dana Angellis. Costume Design by Hannah Schuurman. Projection Design by Amanda Giglio.
I can’t shake the feeling that I shouldn’t have liked Entropy Theatre’s production of The Skriker, (which, to be clear, I did). There’s a coolness to Caryl Churchill’s later plays that I’ve never really taken to. Too often they seem to function as intellectual exorcises designed to assure us of our own cleverness. They prod, “See? Don’t you get it? Don’t you get it?” And of course we do. With everything written in such big letters, how could we not? So having safely learned our lesson for the day, we get to go home with the smug knowledge of how brilliant we are for understanding what Churchill has been pointing to. No need to worry about such trivial matters as emotional involvement; that’s how you know you’re watching art.
Entropy Theatre’s production has me rethinking that position. It’s still a production that eschews emotional involvement and all of those intellectual tricks are still on display, but it’s the first production I’ve seen since in-person theater started coming back that genuinely felt like it was responding to the present. That the creative team found a way to put their processing of the world in September 2021 up on stage. Right now there are a lot of productions, (and more to come), all proclaiming their relevance to the current moment, promising that they’re speaking to the collective mood. But I think that all too often we’re going to find that it’s a prepackaged relevance. Everything comes ready-made. The theater just needs to open the box the play came in. With The Skriker, the creative team at Entropy seems to be working through something on stage in front of us. Churchill’s play becomes a backbone for the company, allowing them to spin out in different directions.
Admittedly, the beginning of the play gives no indication of this. When Emma Tayce Palmer takes the stage as the Skriker, (a kind of mythical, fairytale creature who will be pursuing our two heroines), we’re thrown in with a great rush of language spouting from Palmer’s lips. I’m guessing that if you had the script in front of you, there might be some way of parceling out exactly what’s she’s talking about. As performed, nothing sticks in the mind. It’s moving too fast and ricocheting from topic to topic. You can’t do much but let it wash over you. Just when you start to fear that you’re in for an entire evening of this, the play pulls back and gives us something slightly recognizable as a traditional narrative.
I say “slightly” because the story that proceeds falls into all of the trappings that prevent me from fully enjoying other Churchill plays. Scenes feel disjointed from each other and the stripped-down dialogue robs the speakers from a sense of character. But this is where co-directors Joe Juknievich and Kayleigh Kane start injecting their personal juices into it, bringing the thing to life. They focus on creating the environment around the play, letting Churchill’s script flap off and do its own thing. The production exudes a quiet surrealism that manages to hold your attention. It doesn’t force itself on you the way that a lot of other absurdist-tinged productions might. You’re allowed to wander through the atmosphere at your own pace, drinking in what attracts you. Throughout the evening Juknievich and Kane keep adding layers to their stage images, letting us build connections and develop meaning.
The internet has had a lot of fun over the last year and a half trying to explain how we live now. Memes and YouTube videos jokingly try to describe to a resident of 2015 what the next few years are going to be like. Entropy Theatre manages to accomplish much the same thing, though in a much more pleasing, roundabout way. Every innocuous choice somehow corresponds to the world outside the building, so even when the play appears to falter, you’re not angry about it. You accept it as part of the work, silently nodding your head as it goes along. Even that long rambling monologue from the Skriker at top of show feels correct, (Because these days, who isn’t experiencing being overloaded with information and stimuli? Somehow, it’s become our natural state.). Entropy Theatre has given us the collective dream experience that theater can offer, allowing a direct line to the subconscious. We can wake up and go home but what we’ve experienced is still waiting for us when we get there.
The Skriker was presented by Entropy Theatre, September 30-October 2, 2021 at the Boston Center for the Arts. For more information about the production, visit their website: www.entropytheatre.com
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