Burn

Loosely based upon Jean Paul Sartre’s No Exit, Burn is a play about sin, religion and man’s inhumane treatment of one another.

"Hell is other people" – that oft-cited Sartre titbit – informs the plays progression and its characters’ desperate actions. Three tortured characters awaken (from their deaths) in an ambiguous hell — a boiling hot island where the boundaries between the sky and the earth are indecipherable. Helena is a conniving, embittered lesbian who was once deeply in love, but killed to sate her jealousy. The only man on the island, Clifford, was formerly a powerful business executive who, we gradually find out, is responsible for the economic meltdown taking place back in existence. The figure of Tatiana arouses the interests of both Helena and Clifford – a sumptuous, murderous Russian of peasant stock who craves riches and power.

The performance takes place at the Underbelly (a fitting locale!), in a sparse hanger with cement walls and large industrial fans. Andy McQuade’s script is very good: Avoiding some of Sartre’s haughtiness, he has written a play in which the characters motivations have a certain explicable authenticity. Clifford is the most complex and delicate figure, and the exposure of his impotence in the wake of the sexual turmoil in the middle of the show creates an interesting climax. The players are generally convincing, with Nika Khitrova, as Tatiana, standing out as most comfortable with the stage.

In general, this is a worthwhile treatment of some bleak but important material.