Sunday, March 17, 2024
We went to a matinee today of the play Radiant Vermin. I have absolutely no idea what the title means. There is so much to think about about this play, that the title hardly matters. Ollie and Gillian have the mysterious government worker Miss Dee give them a house – a fixer upper. The idea is that the run-down, abandoned neighborhood will rebound if someone fixes up one house. Ollie and Gillian have a lot more dreams than money, but when Ollie accidentally kills a local vagrant, the house miraculously acquires a perfectly equipped kitchen. Gradually, the couple realize their room-by-room creation of a domestic palace depends upon their willingness to murder homeless people.
Ooof.
They start out horrified, then gradually talk themselves out of it. One thing leads to another. And another. And it all makes sense, but it doesn’t. It is very interesting tale of needing ever more and not being satisfied, but also of rationalizing everything to yourself. I did not see the recent Oscar nominee Zone of Interest, about the Auschwitz camp commandant and his family living across a cement wall from the camp, but I read a lot about it. The director’s point of the film was to point out how people can insulate themselves from anything. This play was very similar in my mind. It gave me a lot of think about.
There were only three actors in the show. Ollie and Gillian have a party for the neighborhood and all of the erstwhile mentioned-but-never-seen neighbors come and are played by the same two actors, using a variety of accents and mannerism to let you know who is who. It was amazing. Fourteen characters interacting with each other played by only two people. It was completely clear and yet so complicated. Well done them.