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Laodamia: Queen of Epirus
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Waste

The Altruists

By Elias Wolfberg • Dec 31, 1969 • New York City
From The Altruists
From The Altruists
Swallow, upon returning home to retrieve Sydney's keys, finds a dead body in his bed, which he assumes belongs to Sydney. When he races off to tell Roland his sister is dead, the identification of the dead body propels the play towards its somewhat dark conclusion. On the way, the characters' amusing obliviousness to their hypocritical politics makes them universally appealing.

There are some hysterical moments that reinforce how ironic the title of the play truly is. Sydney and Ronald get into a very funny "taste great/less filling" argument about who has suffered more, black lesbians or Hispanic gays. Cybil, who brags her cut-off black pants were eaten that way by rats, tries to remember whether to bring smoke bombs or fire bombs to a political rally whose cause continues to escape her. And Sydney and Lance, who reveals he never works Mondays or holidays, get into a ludicrous misunderstanding over drug vernacular.

The climax of the play involves all the characters working together to figure out what to do with the dead body, and to find out the best way to continue their various dysfunctional relationships. It gets tricky, to say the least.

The set design (Neil Patel) and lighting (Kenneth Posner) punctuate the quick action of the play. The costumes (Teresa Snider-Stein) and direction by long-time Silver collaborator David Warren, bring the characters into intense clarity. The production takes off on high pitch and really doesn't slow down. It is an extraordinarily amusing play, but the snappy lines and hysterical action leave one feeling a little empty. Still, it is signature Silver, where the love and disdain he has for his characters become humorously, and darkly, indistinguishable.



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