“I don’t understand why anyone would read reviews. Why would you want to know what’s going to happen? Isn’t one of the powers of art rooted in the element of surprise?”
Thus speaks Harry Clarke, the title character of a one man show playing now at the Vineyard Theater, a show which is as full of surprises as it is artistically compelling, written by David Cale, performed by Billy Crudup. directed by Leigh Silverman.
We first meet Billy in the role of Phillip Bruggelstein, from South Bend, Indiana. He feels more comfortable speaking with a posh British accent. In a time when society seems to be talking an awful lot about gender change, and in at least one well documented cases, identifying as a different ethnicity, I prepared myself for a story about nationality dysphoria.
What I got was an atmospherically rich, hilarious and at times harrowing one man show about a Talented Mr Ripley meets Chauncey Gardiner sort, who sucks in an entire family into his vortex of sexual and emotional aggression.
A chance meeting with a stranger snaps Phillip into an alter ego of his alter ego: Harry Clarke, a heightened, cockney version of his posh self, and with no inhibitions. At first, like a Decide Your Own Adventure, every step he takes we make with him, and eagerly. Gradually, his choices get bolder and bolder, and all of a sudden we’ve gone off a deep end past the point of no return. You can almost hear the moral boundaries of the audience loosen and stretch.
One reason we’re able to suspend judgment is that whenever Harry Clarke speaks, it appears as if he’’s just as surprised as we are by the words coming out of his mouth. Yet he always seems to know exactly what to say.
The fluidity with which Crudup switches between roles sometimes blurs the line between the characters he portrays, making it challenging to separate ‘the predator’ from ‘the prey.’ His face is one you want to believe, even as it becomes glaringly obvious you ought to know better.
In one climactic moment, Crudup practices saying ‘I love you’ in varying intonations and phrasings in front of a mirror, perfecting his delivery for his lover. As the soundtrack from Georges and Dominic swells along with the intensity of his phrasing, I get my knickers in a bunch, as he’d say, not quite sure if he’s an insecure lover or a con man sharpening a knife, or whether I even care - after all, isn’t love about survival in some form or other, no matter what propels it?
The question, Who Am I? Is only asked fervently towards the end of this Machiavellian fairy tale. Many of us have been privy to the wisdom that ‘the story of our lives will be determined by our character.’ Yet, we cling to the stories we were born with like lifeboats, even if they are sinking. We make high stakes decisions based on staying consistent with who we think we are, even if we never consciously chose to be that person. Harry Clarke wasn’t necessarily a conscious choice on the part of Phillip, but it’s a bold one, and ultimately saves him, or at least starts him on a journey towards being saved.