Seldom do I finish seeing a play and reflect that I’d love to spend an entire day or more following the lives of the characters, but that was exactly my reaction to the searing, brilliant Obliteration, now onstage for a too-brief run at the South Loop’s Revival Theater after a heralded stop at Steppenwolf last year.
Written by Andrew Hinderaker, but drawing details from the life of longtime collaborator Michael Patrick Thornton, the production stars Thornton as Neal, a rising standup comedian in line for a Netflix special, and Cyd Blakewell as Lee, a former standup who’s working her way back into the game.
Lee watches Neal’s set one night and delivers a mixed review: his material is good, but she wants him to give the audience–to give her, really–an unguarded look at the medical crisis that left him in a wheelchair. Neal would like her to fuck off and tells her as much. But then, grudgingly on both sides, they enter into a mentor-mentee relationship.
Lee is drawn to Neal’s emotional damage because it resonates with her own. They continue to spar, to challenge each other, to disconnect and reconnect, to lash out and comfort, to make each other better even while making each other feel worse. The brutality underlying the craft of standup has never been on more vivid display.
Neal and Lee, along with the audience, are moving in stop-motion toward revelation and catharsis. It is all thrillingly, gut-punchingly raw and visceral and real. Breathtakingly so. The performers are all-in on the roles, taking creative risks, seemingly living the material.
It’s astonishingly good. If you enjoy emotionally charged, live-wire theatre performed by fearless, incredibly talented actors, you owe it to yourself to see Obliteration. It can be a tough watch, but then again, so is life.
Obliteration runs through May 4 at The Revival Theater.
For a full roundup of reviews of this show, visit Theatre in Chicago.
Photo by Joe Mazza
