Sept. 25--Plays exploring the ragged sorrowful line between justice and vengeance have been around since the House of Atreus. But the mass genocides of the last 100 years have raised the stakes considerably. Truth and reconciliation commissions (such as those used by South Africa post-apartheid and Rwanda after the 1994 massacres) might be the nobler way to go. But as Nicolas Billon's troubling "Butcher" suggests, some damage goes so deep that only extending the cycle of violence makes sense to the survivors.
Billon's drama, now in its local premiere with Signal Ensemble under Bries Vannon's direction, melds elements of a political thriller with ethical debates -- sprinkled liberally with revenge-porn-lite that frankly veers into exploitation. As a gut-punch about atrocity and its aftermath, it's effective. But I'm not convinced that Billon has much new to say about how we should deal with war criminals, or their victims. It feels like a more gruesome version of Ariel Dorfman's "Death and the Maiden," only lacking the element of uncertainty about guilt in that earlier play.
The title at first appears to refer to the meat hook hung around the neck of a mysterious old man (Vincent Lonergan) who has been dumped on a Toronto police station doorstep late Christmas Eve, clad in a military uniform and a Santa hat. The meat hook holds the business card of Hamilton Barnes (Joseph Stearns), a copyright attorney. Soon, it becomes clear that the old man is actually Josef Dzibrilovo, a general from a bloody war in the fictional Lavinia (think about the abused woman of that name in Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus") and in fact has a connection to the attorney.
That connection becomes the fulcrum for the escalating series of actions taken by "the Furies," a group of Lavinian refugees bent on punishing men like Dzibrilovo who slipped through the cracks after the war. Chunks of the play are in "Lavinian," a language created by Canadian academics Christina Kramer and Dragana Obradovic, and Lonergan in particular deserves kudos for conveying nuances in this made-up tongue.
The cast is uniformly terrific, especially Simone Roos' Elena, a nurse/translator with an agenda, and Todd Frugia as the rumpled Inspector Lamb. But the twists, while shocking, don't illuminate anything other than the sadly too-familiar fact that vengeance runs on its own monstrous logic, taking down innocents in its path.
REVIEW: "Butcher" by Signal Ensemble
2.5 STARS
Through Oct. 24, Signal Ensemble Theatre, 1802 W. Berenice Ave.; $23 at 773-698-7389 or signalensemble.com
Kerry Reid is a freelance critic.
onthetown@tribpub.com
