Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll
by Eric Bogosian
Directed by Rachel Tibbetts
The Midnight Company
August 1, 2014
joe Hanrahan
Photo Courtesy of Joe Hanrahan
The Midnight Company
Joe Hanrahan is one of those actors with a particular talent for playing multiple characters in the same play, and one-man shows are a great vehicle for this. Unlike the Midnight Company’s last production, Solemn Mockeries, which told a cohesive story, Eric Bogosian’s Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll is more of a collection of monologues with related themes, providing an ideal showcase for Hanrahan’s skills and allowing for an evening of outrageous and sometimes dark humor that’s sure to make the audience think as well as laugh.
The show is mostly an examination of consumerism and selfishness in modern society. The happiest guy in the show is the homeless bottle collector in the opening sequence, who’s content with his bottles (“or cans–no difference” he says)–which he recycles to make a little bit of money–and the occasional egg salad sandwich. Most of the other characters in the play are selfish, greedy, culturally ignorant and sometimes downright hostile. Self-help philosophies get parodied in two segments, and misguided charity in another. All the elements of the title are there, as well as a cynical take on religious belief and musings on the purpose and importance of art and creativity. It’s gritty, irreverent, and unquestionably funny, with jokes ranging from lighthearted to sarcastic to outrageously dark. It’s an ideal vehicle for a versatile actor like Hanrahan, and he makes the most of every opportunity.
Hanrahan does a great job with the various characters represented here. He’s great with comedy and some of the darker moments, with a good range of voices and accents (with help from dialect coach Pamela Reckamp), from the aging British rocker staging a benefit concert, to the Southern motivational speaker trying to help his audiences get in touch with their “inner baby”. With energy and charisma, Hanrahan manages to hold the audience’s attention through the course of the play even when portraying some of the more unsavory aspects of his characters.
Hanrahan and director Rachel Tibbetts have done an excellent job of presenting this show in just the right context. The basement room at Herbie’s Restaurant in the Central West End is an excellent venue for this play, with the small performance space giving the show more of an interactive vibe. and the use of props and various quick-change costume elements is excellent as well. The play, written over 20 years ago, has been updated here and there with a few references to current events and St.Louis settings, thrown in to add to the overall atmosphere and accessibility of the piece. It’s all very timely,with the focus on self-actualization and self-help (which can be useful or misused), as well as conspicuous consumption in today’s consumer-driven society. It’s a relatively short play, running just over an hour, although that’s plenty of time to be introduced to this wide-ranging cast of characters all played by the same guy. Some of the characters are appealing and some are scoundrels, but as presented by Joe Hanrahan, they’re all worth listening to even if it’s just to make us think.
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