House of Stairs @ Outcry Theatre
—Jan Farrington
In the blackness, there are flights of stairs, leading up and down to small landings…and nothing.
Adapted by Jason Johnson-Spinos of Outcry Theatre from the 1974 novel by William Sleator, House of Stairs is a chilling, Lord of the Flies-ish look at how easily buttons can be pushed to turn humans into pitiless beings only interested in their own survival.
In a dystopian, food-scarce near-future, five orphaned teenagers are abducted and set down (or up?) in this empty space—without explanation or instructions. We see Peter first (Adrian Theisen), blindfolded and shaking. Taking the blindfold off doesn’t help: this place is terrifying. Peter’s been in the system for a while, and everything frightens him—including Lola (Stori James), the tough girl who bounces in with blindfold already knotted around her arm, trusting nobody, sure the world has it “in for me”—but she’s also protective, and quick to take Peter in hand.
Together, they follow sounds to another landing where Blossom (Marcy Bogner) is kneeling in front of a small lighted food dispenser. Each time she sticks out her tongue “aaahh,” a pellet falls. Simple…but the others can’t make it work. Blossom, who once belonged to a privileged family, intends to remain the queen bee. She hot-tempered and manipulative, and is already treating this situation as a war: “You’ll see who wins in the end.” Blossom’s father was (or is?) a psychologist, perhaps a clue…or not.
Last to appear are the calm, timid Abigail (Samantha Garcia) and confident, athletic Oliver (Apache Browne), who can charm or bully to get his way.
Johnson-Spinos (who also directs) does a fine job with his super-engaged teenage cast, as their characters form and break alliances and, most of all, try to discover how the food machine works. What gets them “delicious” pellets one day doesn’t work the next. They figure out that pleasing the machine is key: first by literally kneeling before it, then by responding to its calls (sounds/lights) with stylized group dance performances. When that stops working, shoving and quarrels tell them the machine now wants both the dancing…and their anger. It is teaching them, training them, to become different. To become less than themselves.
Where will this go? Does this mind “conditioning” have a purpose? And—a sudden thought—who are the twisted people who must be running the experiment? Peter drifts into a dream world where he is protected by his kind, handsome friend Jasper (also played by Browne) from one of the earlier “homes” he lived in. Lola tries hard to snap him back to reality. She sees bad things ahead: that the machine will want more and darker acts from them. “Betrayal,” she says. It wants to see them turn on one another. Act two of the play, quicker paced than the first, shows that scenario playing out, as Blossom, Abigail and Oliver are de-humanized by their daily fight to please the machine, and Peter and Lola try to hold on for a rescue that may never come.
Sleator wrote a number of popular books in the 1970s and ‘80s, most classified as “YA” (young adult) fiction. But his stories aren’t kid stuff (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). They’re tightly written and challenging, using the sci-fi and “what if” styles to get young readers thinking about issues like free will, core values, government overreach, human rights, and the limits of science.
The ending of the play feels slightly more hopeful and/or ambiguous than the one Sleator wrote—though it’s theatrically effective. Johnson-Spinos also designed the Escher-like set, white stairs against black background—and Ryder Houston’s haunting original music and sound design (with additional songs by Ariana Kelly) are an evocative and important addition to the action.
Nearly a half-century ago, William Sleator’s dark vision imagined secret experiments to render a small group of humans irrational and divided, selfish and perpetually angry. Is it too simple to note that today, these experiments seem to be taking place on a larger scale—and in the public square of politics and media?
WHEN: Through July 24
WHERE: Addison Theatre Centre, Studio Theatre
WEB: outcrytheatre.com
