But Mark Salamon's Pete, Leo Marks' Barry, and Adrian A. Cruz's Colin inhabit their characters with a marvelous combination of victim and victimizer. We can see that each tormentor knows what it is to be tormented and hence his fleeting glee at the sight of another's pain. To truly understand the expression 'the banality of evil,' see this play. Bond writes street patter well, but his real genius is in capturing the hell of having to listen to it. In one brilliant scene, Pam and Len go at each other over a lost radio program guide, and as one listens to Pam needle Len, we begin to wonder if he doesn't envy the dead baby.
Bond creates a special world where survivors and victims are undifferentiated.
This play opened last year at the Evidence Room and is back by popular demand. It seems especially suited to the theatre's new space in downtown LA. . I've seen it twice now, and it just gets better and better.