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TORONTO - As theatrical trips go, this one is far more concerned with the voyage than the destination.
That's just one of the reasons why End Of Civilization -- Chapter Four, for those who count such things, in George F. Walker's six-part Suburban Motel series -- remains one of the series' most difficult plays to bring to life.
Still, that's what they're trying to do down at Factory Theatre where Civilization and its theatrical sibling, Adult Entertainment, have been revived in celebration of the theatre's 35th anniversary. Civilization opened Wednesday night and is now playing in rep with AE, which opened earlier.
Civilization is the much more complex of the two -- a play in which the playwright plays fast and loose with concepts of time and human decency, subverting the first in order to bring his audience face to face with the fragile nature of the second.
The play opens in the middle of the story of Henry (played by Dennis O'Connor) and Lily (Brenda Bazinet). Long-time members of the middle class, the two have made a temporary stop in the seedy motel room in which the entire series is set, a stop they hope will bounce them right back to the lifestyle they are at risk of losing since Henry lost his job.
But Henry's search for employment has simply added to the couple's discouragement.
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Worse, a series of murders and bombings that may or may not be tied to Henry's job search has brought the couple to the attention of Max and Donny, the low-life cops first encountered in Adult Entertainment, reprised by Ron White and David Ferry respectively.
From there, Walker spins the story both forward and backward until, at show's end, its hopeful beginning plays out in tragic counterpoint to its hopeless end. This is not a story that sends one from the theatre with anything even resembling faint hope.
All of which means that in staging it, it is incumbent upon the director -- in this case, Factory Theatre's artistic director Ken Gass -- to make the voyage worthwhile, showcasing some of Walker's finest writing with superb and finely crafted performances that would make this dolorous game worth the candle.
Instead, Gass gives us the barely adequate, struggling to overcome the miscasting of O'Connor, who proves incapable of tracing the tragic arc of this character. White, for his part, remains strong in the role of Max, but despite impressive effort, the dangerous essence of Donny continues to elude Ferry. Finally, while Jody Stevens is adequate in the role of Sandy, the pragmatic whore, her youth finally merely serves to underscore the fact that Bazinet has grown beyond a part she played with conviction seven years ago.
It's a play that finally leads nowhere -- and getting there is not half the fun.