Set in wealthy Belle Meade, Fire on Flaming Roads, shows the dark and occasionally comic side of
what sometimes happens with those who grow up in affluence and privilege. Four young
adults, friends since childhood apparently, hang out on the roof of Jake's house,
or rather his parent's house, where they smoke marijuana, drink beer, and pass
the time talking about whatever distractions, interruptions, or entertainments have
come their way recently. None express any hint of career, education, spiritual,
or personal aspirations in life that we can discern.
Jake is an extrovert who reeks of entitlement and arrogance.
He is rude and crude. Dylan is Jake's close buddy--a schlemiel of sorts, whose
manner of dress is an insult to fashion. Sam is a bit stoic. The lone female, Tony,
obviously feels comfortable hanging out with these guys, but she has a little more
self-efficacy than they do and is more self-contained.
From the rooftop, off in the distance, they notice a huge
fire burning along a highway. Over time, they become more concerned about the
fire, and they try and find out some news about it. Dylan expresses the most
curiosity, which acts as a foil to Jake's strident apathy about anything to do
with the fire or anything in life other than hedonistic pleasures. Ominously, they discover that their portable
radio has failed, as well as their cell phones and T.V. The profluence of the
play comes from their attempts to deal with the uncertainty, worry, and fear
that the fire increasingly evokes in them.
Near the beginning, Tony is reading a book, and she suddenly
reads a passage out loud, paraphrasing it in terms of terror, in response to the fuming fire on the
road---a sign of an imagination and alert intelligence on her part. Not too surprisingly,
she emerges as the conscience of the group. As we might expect from
these slackers, most of the conversation consists of short, elemental utterances punctuated with the standard vulgarities. But in mid-play, Tony suddenly delivers a long, articulate, lecture to Dylan saying, among other things, that people will not
change unless they become completely destroyed and they have no other choice.
From Jake, we learn enough about his life off from the roof.
We learn everything we need to know about Dylan just from seeing him and hearing him
talk. The way Tony and Sam carry themselves is excellent, but both characters would
benefit from an additional detail or two about them. The build-up of tension with
respect to the fire is not quite dramatic enough, but the foreshadowing and the
ending worked well. This is the first script from playwright Daniel Hainsworth.
It is well-constructed in a dramatic and literary sense, and I am looking
forward to his next production.
Company: The Untitled Theatre Collective
/ http://untitledtheatreny.wix.com/home
Producer: Carly J. Bauer and the United Theatre Collective
Cast: Matt Giroveanu (Jake), Shawn
Ferrier (Dylan), Kyle Mumford (Sam),
Mary Caitlin Kelly (Tony)
Fire on Flaming Roads: Dec. 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20.
Arthur Seelen Theatre -- basement of the Drama Book Shop
250 W. 40th St.; New York, NY 10018
The event is not wheel chair accessible and requires going down a flight
of stairs.
Running Time: 1 hour
Tickets: $12.00
/ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fire-on-flaming-roads-tickets-19150655125
