In these post-Christian times, consolation is a free
agent. While most folks I know turn to Gossip Girl for comfort,
we might be better off seeking out the nearest walk-in refrigerator. Or
so Gary Winter suggests in Cooler, a new play receiving its
world premiere from defunkt theatre, Portland’s go-to company for
intellectually restless drama.
You want a plot? Here’re four people hiding away in a cooler from
nothing in particular. You want personae? Try four characters in search
of an inner life, or any detail to distinguish them from each other.
You want dialogue? Chew on these Immanuel Kant quotations while they
sort that part out. So, no, Cooler isn’t looking to satisfy the
scorecard I typically bring to the theater to tally my fun, which is
fine—so long as there’s a point. Playwright, please?
“When people see my play,” Winter says on defunkt’s website, “they
say they didn’t understand it, but they say they had a very powerful
experience. That’s the point.”
Oh, dear. Well, my experience wasn’t powerful, which may be because
I understood it all too well (the play’s about obfuscation and creative
cowardice, or that’s where my mind went anyway). But I did enjoy
watching Cyndi Rhoads’ extraordinarily sharp performance. Given a
paper-thin character, Rhoads demonstrated incredibly taut listening
skills that helped spring the pompously didactic dialogue surrounding
her to greater action than it deserved. What she did for this
production was nothing short of brain-to-mouth resuscitation.
Which only points to this unlikely truth: Beneath its swollen
temples, this play does boast a healthy pulse. Winter is driven by
something here, though he hasn’t bothered to give his concern a shape
solid enough to help us share it. Instead, he’s content to relay his
anxieties through reverent nods to Chekhov’s Three Sisters and
Beckett’s napkin scribbles. Near the end, when the dialogue gives way
to a setpiece involving a very David Byrne-cum-Ionesco-styled dance
number, it’s possible to see how this could be a powerful experience
for someone in the audience. But when I looked around, I only saw
bemusement.