What might begin eloquently as a lament for the fragile human condition eventually betrays itself as the author's whiny grocery list of grievances.
Mature despair is the sorrow that is a perfectly rational response to a world of pain and terror.
The battle of good against evil, faith against faithlessness, is much larger than the individual warriors. For its final production, Extra Virgin Performance Cooperative has chosen to debut a brittle, sinister, but consistently funny script by New York-based playwright Bob Jude Ferrante . A Greek Diner Tragedy is a hearty raspberry aimed at religious and intellectual institutions who teach hope not as a portal of transcendence, but to keep the little people in line. Under the nimble, propulsive direction of Extra Virgin founder Gretchen Swen, and thanks to a crackshot cast brimming over with excellent comic timing, Hemlock emphasizes the laughs over the pain. The play hops times and dimensions with the nervous attention of a caffeine addict, but by the second act, settles into a consistent time, place, and dilemma.