Playwright: Benjamin Brand. At: Red Theatre Chicago & Aperture. Entertainment at Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Tickets: www.redtheater/org/tickets; FREE ( donations accepted ). Runs through: May 22
How many people would you trust with your life, seriously? One, two, none? Rarer still, how many people would you trust to take your life, assuming you wanted it taken? Those who love you deeply probably would refuse, especially knowing suicide, assisted suicide, mercy killing and premeditated murder are illegal—even if consensual.
Taste is about all that, emphasizing "trust." It also adds consensual cannibalism: one of the play's two characters wishes to be killed, cooked and eaten while the other wishes to execute and consume. They met on line, naturally, and the first time they meet is the only time they meet.
Benjamin Brand's odd play is so darkly humorous through much of its 90-minute length that one might review it by saying it gives the phrase "hide the sausage" a whole new meaning. One might note that nerdy Victor ( Kevin V. Smith ), the consumee, cannot eat onions, garlic, shallots, scallions, tomatoes or seafood, and is socially inept—so no wonder he wants to die! But either evaluation would be much too glib. Consider: If someone took your life according to a pre-arranged and mutually-agreed-upon plan, you might need to feel closer to that individual, to trust him/her, more than anyone else on earth.
That's the serious premise behind Taste, which is executed—pardon the word—with incredibly focused performances from Smith and Gage Wallace as uber-gourmet/host Terry Lavery. Tall, thin Smith plays Victor as a man who clearly wants to be controlled, even abused—and is used to that. His performance is riveting as the blood games begin. Playwright Brand requires him to maintain a nearly punishing level of intensity as a man in physical distress and psychological turmoil and Smith is shockingly convincing. Wallace seems less intense at first with his appealing humor, beguiling smile and calmly in-charge attitude, but his own neediness soon belies his affability as the couple's interdependence develops.
One must keep in mind, however, that Victor and Terry are pursuing a horrifically extreme and illegal fetish and both men are very sick. This inhibited me from being fully engaged in even the wittiest moments performed just inches from my seat, let alone the gory and sometimes gratuitously graphic moments. Consensual or not, what they are doing is wrong.
Both Terry and Vic are gay, but it's of secondary importance. Given the extreme circumstances, the play's one sexual act could occur just as believably between two straight men or a mixed-sex couple. Sexuality is not the overriding theme or action of Taste.
Director Aaron Sawyer and company have done well with this tricky, potentially offensive little shocker. At bottom, however, it is a shocker more concerned with actions than motivations or its characters' abnormal psychology.
