Cradle of Man

Sometimes, one knows precisely what’s wrong with a play: “If they would just change this and that, they’d have a hit!” Other times, one leaves the theater with a more general feeling of dissatisfaction. Such is the case with Melanie Marnich’s Cradle of Man at the Victory Gardens Theatre. This self-declared “dramatic comedy” features an appealing ensemble of five actors led by Sex and the City star David Eigenberg, plus a few good laughs and a few trenchant observations, yet it never really grabs you.

It’s set in Dar es Salaaam, the capital of Tanzania and gateway to the primeval Olduvai Gorge where the species Homo sapiens first walked upright and separated itself from the apes. Marnich plunks two married couples and one parent down into this steamy East African environment, and primitive instincts eventually unravel at least one — if not both — of the marriages as the Alpha Female abandons her mate to seduce a weaker male of the species.

Manly do-gooder Jack (Eigenberg) and his wife, Bonnie (Jennie Moreau), are experienced African visitors, while mild-mannered Latin teacher Mason (Sean Cooper) is in the country for the very first time with his anthropologist wife Debra (Julie Ganey). The wily Bonnie uses her sexual power to keep Jack on a leash even as she seduces Mason, who’s never cheated before in 20 years of marriage. Late in the play, we learn that Jack’s mother (Peggy Roeder) plans to give Jack $3 million to help his good works, not knowing that he is dying of spinal cancer.

Marnich tries to make many points here: The strong are weak, the crafty flourish, the motherhood instinct is based in self-sacrifice, and the established order of things isn’t reliable in a changing environment. But just to make sure that we understand, Debra delivers a series of lectures about the findings at Olduvai Gorge — among them a skeletal grouping of mother, younger female, and younger male who appear to have met violent deaths.

So there’s a whole lot going on in Cradle of Man, but not all of it is convincing. The role of Jack’s mother is severely underdeveloped and serves no purpose other than filling out Marnich’s anthropological equation. Both men are entirely reactive. However, the biggest void of all is the lack of even a hint of motivation for Bonnie’s actions. She states more than once that she’s a model wife back in Milwaukee, but when she and Jack are in Africa, she cuts bait and plays. Why? Just because she can? We never learn enough about these two as a couple to understand their behavior.

Curiously, Marnich introduces no African characters; as a result, the play feels like a Caucasian fantasy of exoticism. On the plus side, the physical production is strong. Scenic designer Keith Pitts uses pattern and texture to suggest the African environment: woven grass mats, a few pieces of tribal furniture, the suggestion of mudbrick walls, etc. Jacqueline Reid’s lighting adds depth and tone to Pitts’s work. Projected images effectively illustrate Debra’s anthropology talks.

In a play as pithy as this one, subtext is all-important; but under Sandy Shinner’s direction, there just isn’t enough of that. What you see and hear is what you get, and so the audience is left somewhat puzzled. The characters are likeable but we aren’t sufficiently engaged with them to care — not even when a shocking incident in the final moments of the play affects them all. I’d wager a tidy sum that Marnich’s script was originally longer and was subsequently trimmed, but less isn’t always more.