Given homesickness and adjustment difficulties, freshman year at college can be tough.
But for D.C., the Ivy League 17-year-old at the heart of Oliver Mayer’s “Joy of the Desolate,” issues arise with dizzying rapidity.
The young man has to deal with the recent death of his dad, the longtime absence of his mother, an emerging love triangle, issues surrounding his Native-American identity, homophobic worries about his gay roommate, the ministrations of a maternalistic hooker and his wish to sing in the school choir.
And that’s all before intermission.
By Act II, his choir conductor has begun sharing the aforementioned hooker (apparently the only one in town), his potential sexual conquest has left town, and his mother has shown up in dreamy Freudian visitations.
One night on a bridge, D.C. (Michael Gotch) runs into the alcoholic minister of the church where his choir sings. She is clad mainly in underwear.
This, it should be noted, is not a comedy.
Mayer, who wrote the deservedly successful “Blade to the Heat,” has already proven his considerable talent as a playwright. And the basic idea here is very solid. Anyone to whom the arts have given solace can empathize with a young man struggling to free his natural voice and use choir to honor his musical father and find his soul.
But at this stage, “Joy of the Desolate” is a wildly uneven piece with so many competing ideas, styles and metaphors that it chokes itself on thematic pretension.
Instead of reigning in the excesses of the script, director Geraint Wyn Davies paints the blackout-infested show with flashy strokes that not only lack subtlety and specificity but are full of internal inconsistencies. An especially perplexing costume design scheme has characters ignoring the demands of a Northeast winter and wearing the same stuff for days.
Part of the problem is that Mayer has structured his play like a movie. The innumerable short scenes offer so little character development that the show ends up populated by such familiar archetypes as the gruff, tough-love choir director (Si Osbourne), the sweet-but-confused college student (Aasne Vigesaa) and that big-hearted hooker (Ora Jones). The Native-American issues and symbols in the play and production do not convey authenticity.
The generally strong cast does its best. Standout Kate Goehring fleshes out her troubled minister with her usual skill, and the handsome Gotch packs much charm.
There are a few moving, honest moments where you can sense Mayer’s passion and see where this perplexing play was supposed to be going–before it lost its connection to truth.
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“Joy of the Desolate”
When: Through July 9
Where: Apple Tree Theatre, 595 Elm Pl., Highland Park
Call: 847-432-4335
