[NEohioPAL] Berko review: SAY YOU LOVE SATAN @ convergence-continuum

[Roy Berko]

Meet the perfect boyfriend…the son of Satan, at convergence continuum

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)


--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News Times--Olmsted-Fairview 
Times

--coolcleveland.org

We've all heard the old joke about someone going on a date with a person who 
turns out to be the son of Satan.  Well, in Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's play, ‘SAY 
YOU LOVE SATAN,’ now in production at congruency-continuum, the premise is taken 
to the “reality” level.  Well, reality, if you buy the premise.   And, in the 
author's imagination, the devil is, "Evil incarnate, has a six-pack, shoulders 
this wide and zero percent body fat."

The script has been bannered as, “…a smart, hip comedy, and 
“up-to-the-millennium commentary on the all-too-human impulse to dabble on the 
dark side.”  It's also been stated, “Aguirre-Sacasa doesn't quite know where he 
wants to take us. First, we're charmed with a satirically clever, gay romantic 
romp replete with campy characters. Then he flirts with a few serious scenes 
before falling back into comedy.” He just gives up at the end and stops the 
action without it making much sense other than that the nice cute guys get back 
to being boyfriends. 

The story concerns Andrew, a graduate student hiding out at the laundromat 
rather than facing his saintly boyfriend, Jerrod, who is just too nice for 
Andrew, who is full of insecurities. Between the rinse and spin cycles, Andrew 
meets Jack, he of the perfect physique and mystical charm. Now Jack has a"666" 
mark hidden on his forehead (oh ho!), and a limp that starts when the sun comes 
up (more oh   ho!), but those signs sneak right past our naïve Andrew. You know, 
some people always fall for the bad boy.

This is the kind of script that cc's artistic director Clyde Simon loves.  It's 
full of sexual innuendos, allows for almost all the male cast to cavort in 
nearly no clothing, and appeals to a cult audience, in this case a mainly gay 
audience.  It also has fun lines such as, '"Are you a Satanist?" Andrew asks 
Jack. "No," he replies sheepishly. "But my father…he's the Devil."

Scott Gorback is properly geeky as the naïve Andrew.  Lauren Smith (Bernadette), 
she of purple hair, serves well as the fag-hag.  Stuart Hoffman (Jerrod) is 
very, very sweet as the good boyfriend.  Zac Hudak inhabits the flaming gay bad 
boyfriend role. Lukas Robert guards the gay night club as the pot-bellied bear 
of a bouncer. Tony Thai appears in various roles, including being a male 
stripper.  Then there is handsome Lukas Roberts, evil incarnate, with a sculpted 
body, who spends much of the play in nothing except various colored very brief 
form fitting tighty-whities.  (That sentence alone ought to guarantee cc sold 
out houses of gay males.)

What's Aguirre-Sacasa trying to say?  Beats me. How about, don't get mixed up 
with the devil?  Or, carry a canister of salt in case your date starts acting 
weird and grows horns?  How about, you're judged by the friends you keep?  Or, 
is the message, “I know how to get a bunch of gay guys into the theatre…put 
hunky Lukas Roberts in tiny briefs that leave nothing to the imagination. 

Capsule Judgement:  Go to see SAY YOU LOVE SATAN with the right attitude.  This 
is not a great script.  The production is not great.  But, you can have a good 
time if you aren't expecting to see a play that says much and teaches less.

SAY YOU LOVE SATAN runs at 8 pm Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through 
September 25 at convergence-continuum's artistic home, The Liminis, at 2438 
Scranton Rd. in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood. For information and 
reservations call 216-687-0074.

Con-con's next staging will be 'BRAINPEOPLE' by Jose Rivera.  It is a surreal 
drama in which a genial heiress invites two strangers to her once opulent 
penthouse for a strange feat commemorating the death of her parents.  The show 
runs from October 15 to November 13.
 
Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2001 through 
2010, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at 
http://royberko.info
His reviews can also be found on www.coolcleveland.com and NeOHIOpal (to 
subscribe visit http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/neohiopal.)