“Victims of Duty” reviewed by Jacob Davis

[rating=5] With the rise of several strongmen governments and threats to the foundation of our electoral system comes a renewed interest in the arts world in the works of Brecht, Genet, and the father of “absurdist” theatre, Eugène Ionesco. Best remembered for the 1959 play Rhinoceros, in which a man attempts to understand how his neighbors have become rage-filled monsters, Ionesco first became famous for Victims of Duty in 1953. An exploration of themes such as obedience to authority and the deadening of oneself, Victims of Duty is, in some ways, an early draft of ideas Ionesco would more fully develop later. But this production at A Red Orchid Theatre, directed by Shira Piven and including cast members from the company’s previous production in 1995, is a masterpiece in its own right.

Choubert (Guy Van Swearingen) and his wife, Madeline (Karen Aldridge) are quiet, respectable people in a country whose government is encouraging its citizens to cultivate “detachment.” Rightly so, Madeline says, since sacrifice for the sake of following the law is good in itself. Choubert agrees that people are too nervous nowadays, but argues detachment is nothing new and a bit of a nuisance. When a Detective (Michael Shannon) arrives seeking information about the previous tenant, they both want to be helpful, but Madeline is particularly smitten. Initially deferential and apologetic, the Detective becomes more hostile when he determines that Choubert knew the man being sought better than he lets on, and the Detective hypnotizes Choubert to go on a journey of his mental landscape and remember how he met the enigmatic Mallot.

Things do not go the Detective’s way. Despite Choubert’s claimed fealty to detachment, he has a lot of trauma to work through which his subconscious evidently considers more important than finding the Detective’s quarry. Van Swearingen’s physicality as Choubert is nothing short of amazing. The frustrated Detective puts him through a gamut from swimming through a marsh to climbing a mountain, all of which he enacts using a bathtub and a few other ledges and pools at the margins of the stage. On a relatively blank set designed by Danila Korogodsky, director Shira Piven finds a pathway for Van Swearingen that is described so vividly it is visible to the audience (although evocative, symbolist projections help us get in the proper mindset).

One of the pleasures of this production is listening to Academy and Tony Award nominee Michael Shannon’s monologues. The Detective turns out to be quite the philosopher, arriving at his point through a chain of reasoning that escalates in intensity until he has beaten down the hapless subject of his interrogation. At one point, he also steps in as Choubert’s mental construct of his father, who eloquently describes how he was twisted by war into as bitter a man who ever lived. He contrasts nicely with Aldridge’s performances as Madeline, an aloof creature of habit who perhaps becomes aware of a long-suppressed desire for escape by her encounter with the Detective. She’s even less a fan of plumbing peoples’ inner depths than he is, though.

While Ionesco’s devices are challenging, fans of Chicago’s other European-oriented theatres will recognize this production’s conventions. For newcomers, Ionesco explains his psychological concept through the character Nicholas D’eu (Richard Cotovsky), although it’s a bit hard to catch since his dramaturgical debate with the Detective occurs while Choubert is being tortured. Cotovsky is a forceful figure who arrives late in the show, as does Mierka Girten as the Lady, a mostly silent witness to the horrors unfolding around her. Victims of Duty makes full use of its ninety minutes; like Ionesco’s early works, it’s about how stories are conveyed in the theatre, but it’s also concerned with how people conceive of their responsibilities in a tyrannical society. But for all its cerebral content and musing on events from the author’s personal life, there’s one moment at the end that is viscerally chilling in a way it couldn’t have been in 1995. The show has already generated a lot of interest and tickets are hard to come by, but for people with an interest in non-naturalistic theatre, they’re very much worth keeping a sharp eye for.

“Victims of Duty” will continue at A Red Orchid Theatre at 1531 N Wells Ave, Chicago thru August 5, with performances as follows:

Thursdays:          7:30 pm

Fridays:                7:30 pm

Saturdays:           3:00 pm and 7:30 pm

Sundays:              3:00 pm

As well as select Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30 pm.

Running time is ninety minutes.

Tickets are $50; to order, call 312-943-8722 or visit A Red OrchidTheatre.org. Metered parking is available on the street.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click “Victims of Duty.”