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Peer Reviews

Sam Shepherd's
The God of Hell

Directed by Keith Franklin
Starring Melissa Riddle, Timothy Brown, Chris Petty and Todd Ziegler
Performed at the MeX

Reviewed by Deborah Ward

Entire contents are copyright © 2007, Deborah Ward. All rights reserved.

As I read the show program for Sight & Sound's production of Sam Shepard's The God of Hell, I'm getting the feeling that this is something way over my understanding. "A robust new farce that shows Mr. Shepard's gift for finding deadpan surrealism in bucolic speech," quotes The New York Times. What am I in for, when I don't even understand what the reviews about the play mean?

"Are you familiar with Shepard's work?" asks the teacher from Savannah (in Louisville to grade our AP tests) sitting next to me. "No," I respond, keeping my answer short and sweet, not wanting to reveal my stupidity about someone who seems to be a famous American playwright of my generation. As the Georgian talks about seeing The God of Hell in several other cities and its provocative message, I plead my stupidity by crying out, "I'm a science teacher, I don't read literature!"

There were so many messages sent by Shepherd throughout this play that, as I write this, I am still saying, "What was the meaning of all this?" This is the first play that has sent me straight to my computer to do more research on the playwright and his expressive views. The God of Hell is a play by American playwright Sam Shepard. It was written in part as a response to the events of September 11, 2001, and has been described by Shepard as "a take-off on Republican fascism." Shepard's hope to affect the outcome of the 2004 Presidential election with The God of Hell was fruitless, but still makes for an entertaining and thought-provoking evening.

Stills from Sight & Sound's production of The God of Hell. Above, from left: Todd Zeigler, Chris Petty and Tim Brown. Below: Tim Brown and Melissa Riddle.

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The most wonderful aspect of theatre is that the scripts and performances are written for a succinct purpose by the author; however, they are also open to individual interpretation. For those who are more into the boxing ring and less into the political arena, this production offers much fun and humor along with an all-star Louisville cast. Brad Pitt they may not be, but the three handsome hotties cast by Keith Franklin and John Hetzel (Chris Petty, Timothy Brown and Todd Ziegler) are well worth the ticket price. Did I mention that they are very talented actors, too? Melissa Riddle is a perfect winterly depressed Emma who has the compulsion to kill her houseplants by continuous watering. These four actors have performed on nearly every stage in Louisville and are some of the most talked-about local favorites.

Shepard's dark farce is set in an isolated Wisconsin dairy farm in mid-winter. Emma (Riddle) and Frank (Brown) run the only working farm in the area, since the neighboring farms have received grants from the government not to work their farms. Emma is happy living in Wisconsin where nothing happens except the occasional beheading by snowmobile. People get to going so fast on their snowmobile that, "They never see the barbed wire fence coming, and swishhh." The boredom of the Midwest changes with the sudden appearance of Mr. Haynes. Mr. Haynes sends an amazing shock to everyone he meets, thanks to the mythological god of hell -- Pluto, for whom element 94 of the actinide series, chemical symbol Pu, plutonium, is named.

Mr. Welch, in the guise of a strictly patriotic salesman attempting to sell Emma a remix CD of Pat Boone singing God Bless America, follows Mr. Haynes to get him back "in step" with the government agency from which he ran. Not only does the controlling Mr. Welch retake his captive, but he also, through use of varied Pavlovian conditioning techniques, convinces Frank to sell his heifers. "My heifers will be parachuting into exotic lands to save us from the enemy!" Frank declares as Emma cries, "Frank, he's got Mr. Haynes by the penis!" Although this play is a cry against government control, Mr. Shepard strikingly hits another axiom of our society right on the head, literally. It's an age-old adage women have used for years: To get what you want out of a man, you use his penis.

As an extra, make sure you check out the poster art (created by actor Tim Brown) for this production at http://sightandsound.home.insightbb.com/.

Sam Shepherd’s The God of Hell
Sight & Sound
Performed at the MeX
Tickets $18: 502-584-7777 or 1-800-757-7777, or www.kentuckycenter.org

June 14-16, 2007

http://sightandsound.home.insightbb.com/

Posted June 15, 2007