Theater review: ‘Martyr’ at Second Thought Theatre

If by the end of Second Thought Theatre’s production of Maja Zade’s translation of German playwright Marius von Mayenburg’s 2012 drama Martyr you don’t have any emotional sympathy or psychological connection with the characters, then director Blake Hackler has done his job.

That’s not the way Americans are used to having their drama served, even with a play like this that could be overly didactic in the wrong hands. The playwright wrote it with Brechtian Verfremdungseffekt, or an alienation effect, in mind, wherein the narrative cause and effect invites debate — but not emotional attachment.

Benjamin (Stage West regular Garret Storms) is a high-schooler who has become so enthralled with the Old Testament that he takes its words literally. As his liberal mother, Inge (Lulu Ward), explains, he goes from “a normal boy with behavioral problems” to preaching at the dinner table and threatening her, and others in his life, with “divinely ordained torture.”

Benjamin’s sudden shift to fundamentalism is somewhat amusing to his sexually charged schoolmate Lydia (Mikaela Krantz), and curious to his impressionable friend Georg (Ruben Carrazana, in a terrific sad-clown performance), who walks with a limp because one leg is slightly shorter than the other.

History teacher and coach Markus (Andrews Cope) is disturbed by Benjamin’s actions but even more worried about his girlfriend, science teacher Erika (Allison Pistorius), who has a fascination with understanding, or even fixing, Benjamin. Taking different approaches to understanding the zealot’s effects on those around him are headmaster Willy (Thomas Ward) and vicar Dieter (Paul Taylor).

There’s an occasional attempt at uncomfortable humor, but Martyr has virtually no variation in intensity from the beginning to the ending 90 minutes later, leaving no room to build. But it’s not supposed to. Director Hackler adds to the emotional detachment by using stylized movement influenced by Asian theatrical techniques.

Scenic designer Darren Diggle’s neutral-tone set, evoking the steps around a cathedral or perhaps the pulpit of a mega-church, makes lighting designer Aaron Johansen’s shadows cast on the walls of the black-box theater in Bryant Hall stark and in tune with the unfeeling nature of the play.

Pistorius gives a fearless performance that comes closest to breaking the desired alienation effect, only because Erika is the character who most invites sympathy. The casting of Storms is curious, as he physically can no longer pull off being a teenager emerging from pubescence. There should be a coming-of-age parallel, but it’s not as strong, or scary, as it would be from an actor who looked younger.

There are a lot of hot-button issues here that pertain to religious extremism, including homosexuality, anti-Semitism and the subjugation of women. It is bound to provoke discussion, although probably one-sided from a presumably liberal audience that’s attracted to the kind of provocative plays at which Second Thought excels.

It’s a tough play to love — but then again, it doesn’t want your affection.

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 5:06 PM with the headline "Theater review: ‘Martyr’ at Second Thought Theatre."