Raised in Captivity by Nicky Silver
“The price of absolution is the cost of one’s own moral code”, claimed psychologist Hillary MacMahon (Tina Brock) and then she stabbed out her own eyes.
Raised in Captivity is a dark comedy, full of complex story lines and attention-grabbing twists. Presented by BCKSEET Productions, written by Nicky Silver and directed by G DeCandia. Raised in Captivity portrays a family where absolutely no one is happy. With their mother dead and buried, Bernadette (Kate Brennan) and Sebastian (Josh Totora) still can’t get along. Sebastian claims that Bernadette’s crazy and Bernadette is overly jealous of the lifestyle she believes her brother to have. Bernadette’s husband, Kip (Andrew Borthwick-Leslie) has what can be considered a midlife crisis, deciding that teeth make him sick. Claiming that he can no longer be a dentist, he decides, to Bernadette’s displeasure, that he wants to be a painter.
Through everything these characters do to themselves and others, one underlying theme stands out – everyone needs something to save them. Not one character in this play can better their own lives – they need other people to do it for them. Each character has based their happiness in the hands of others, whether they realize this or not. And although they try to save themselves, they can’t seem to get it right. Prostitutes, pregnancy, and painting – none of the things that the characters try to do for themselves helps and instead, just makes everything worse.
Mentioned over and over again by every character is the damage that parents have done to their children. In this case the cast of characters are affected through love, hate and the emptiness that their parents felt towards them. Everyone in this play has these underlying issues with their parents that, although not always obvious, are allowed to control their lives. This damage is, in turn, what drives the whole play.
Set in a round, this performance faced several obstacles within the set design. These obstacles were overcome fabulously with a black and white abstract set that allowed the audience to really become enthralled in the show. With obstructed views from every seat, it was the job of the actors to really overcome the challenge of addressing all of the different viewpoints that the audience had. However, this creates an interesting effect on the play itself, giving each individual audience member his or her own personalized experience.
The cast really seems to understand each other, creating a great chemistry on stage and between the actors and the audience. And although it seemed like, in the beginning, that the play was focused around Sebastian, as the show went on, everything became about Bernadette and, as an emotional wreck, Bernadette could be seen as a challenging role. In spite of the challenge, Kate Brennan was stunning and nailed the performance right on.
Overall, Raised in Captivity is a thoughtful and a highly entertaining piece of theatre that won’t disappoint.
BCKSEET Productions presents Raised in Captivity, written by Nicky Silver and directed by G DeCandia, April 15th – May 9th, 2009 at the Red Room at Society Hill Playhouse, 507 S. 8th Street. Tickets $18-$21. 215-923-0210, www.bckseet.com.
