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A CurtainUp Los Angeles Review
The God of Hell


Are we talking about a world situation or something personal? --- Frank
What's the difference? --- Haynes


The God of Hell
Bryan Cranston plays Welch, the creepy, sadistic government agent in the Los Angeles premiere of The God of Hell
(Photo: Michael Lamont)
As I write this review, hooded figures in loose robes hobble across my television screen escorted by American soldiers. They are dressed like the medieval victims of the Spanish Inquisition. I saw one of those figures last night in Sam Shepard's The God of Hell, written in 2004, several years before they invaded my home. In Shepard's play, the victim and his captor invade the home of a Midwestern farming couple and we can stop calling Shepard's play surreal and start calling it realistic.

The "god of hell" which gives the play its name is Pluto and the hell is plutonium which, due to some hellish experiments or nuclear contamination, causes sparks to fly from the fingers of Greg Haynes, who flees to his old friend Frank for refuge. This bewildering visitor is welcome to Frank's wife, buxom Emma, who is so lonely she waters her house plants until they weep for mercy.

Welch is the government official who pursues Haynes . Cheerful as a talk-show host, he tells them, "We're in absolute control now! We don't have to answer to anyone!" Shepard's symbolism is open to interpretation. Frank's beloved flock of "replacement Holsteins", which he's holding back to breed when the time is right, are being shipped off to the mysterious Rocky Butte by Frank and Haynes, who are now automatons. Welch decks the stage in American flags and the Star Spangled Banner becomes an instrument of mind control. The torture is explicit and the play's angry power is vivid and harsh.

The cast is sparked by Bryan Cranston as Welch whose jolly imperviousness is also chillingly familiar. Curtis Armstrong plays Haynes, the mysterious visitor, whose electric shocks are both frightening and funny. Bill Fagerbakke makes Frank, the farmer, a tall homespun son of the soil, whose solidity and credibility anchor the play into a middle American ambiance. As his wife Emma, Sarah Knowlton seems to be channeling Frances McDormand in Fargo with an accent that's more North Dakota than Wisconsin. Hers is the most problematic character. The house is her girlhood home, so it seems strange that she finds it so devastatingly lonely and has never tried to leave. She looks the part of a cornfed farm girl but her simplicity seems affected. This is partly in the writing but nothing has been done to make it less irritating. The characters are farcical, as Shepard intended the play to be, but it's far darker than that.

The 90-minute piece profits from the direction of Jason Alexander who brings out its humor and vitality. It seems more like a cartoon or a rough sketch of an idea than a fully developed piece. That may have been its intent but in Shepard's case, we always want more and we miss it here. What we don't miss is an unforgettable collage of images that turn red, white and blue into colors we never imagined.

For a review of the play's Off-Broadway premiere go here.

THE GOD OF HELL
Playwright: Sam Shepard
Director: Jason Alexander
Cast: Sarah Knowlton (Emma), Bill Fagerbakke (Frank), Bryan Cranston (Welch), Curtis Armstrong (Haynes)
Set Design: John Iacovelli
Lighting & Projection Design: Jason H. Thompson
Costume Design: Christina Haatainen Jones
Sound Design: Jon Gottlieb
Running Time: 90 minutes, no intermission
Running Dates: June 28-July 30, 2006
Where:. The Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, Reservations: (310) 208=6500.
Reviewed by Laura Hitchcock on June 28.
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