Theater Review: The Busy World is Hushed

By Philip Doyle

Ignite Theatre kicks off its ambitious 2012 season with The Busy World Is Hushed. It is the only non-musical in a line up that includes The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Spring Awakening, Sweeney Todd, and Next to Normal. A deceptively modest season entry, The Busy World Hushed has more than enough provocative power to set the rest of the Ignite Theatre’s season ablaze.

The more you think about The Busy World Is Hushed, the more complex it becomes. On its surface it is a play about faith, family, and discovering life’s purpose. Its depths contain questions that confront our accepted beliefs of love, suffering, the frailty of existence, and our grandiose assumptions of life.

Playwright Keith Bunin has created a world that brings a widowed Episcopal minister Hannah (Mari Geasair), her doubting and wayward son Thomas (Tim McGrath), and a handsome, witty writer Brandt (Chris Silberman).

Brandt has been hired by Hannah to ghostwrite a new translation of a gospel. In the process Brant begins to coalesce Hannah’s random notes and thoughts into a book. He is also a gay man, and a dutiful son. Silberman's portrayal of Brandt is smart in purpose, and desirable in human frailty.

Hannah’s son Thomas never knew his father and has become somewhat of a journeyman. He prefers to wander through life on a quest to discover his self, and connect with his father’s spirit. Even in his youth he frustrated his mother by playing a game of “get lost," in which he would disappear to discover his ability to be self reliant. Tim McGrath plays Brandt with a perfect sense of laissez faire curiosity, and a dash of sexy rebel. This part could have easily come off as anti-establishment hippie, but McGrath gives us a very real person.

Hannah is a conflicted mother. She places her faith in God’s grand plan, yet struggles with translating her spirituality into real life. She has a disdain for the stained glass windows in her office because they are conveniently simple portrayals of the struggles of human existence. All of her books are stacked vertically, because she hopes desperately for the day her son will build bookshelves. Hannah is easily this play’s most complex character and Mari Geasair plays her with convincing honesty.

Director Bernie Cardell provides a view of the world that will have you asking the right questions. The audience is provoked by situation and not by preaching or boisterous lectures. It is my favorite part of live theatre: A seductive perception that incites you to think.

I greatly appreciate how a gay love affair between the two male characters is handled with a respectful, objective, sense of realness. It could have been a trite plot device about homosexuality conflicting with Christianity, but this play transcends all that.

At one point Brandt says that he is, “Looking for God, and all I see are the empty spaces where he is suppose to be.“ The Busy World Is Hushed never presumes to give the answers, and you will leave asking some powerful questions.

The Busy World Is Hushed - A Play By Keith Bunin; Directed By Bernie Cardell, Starring Mari Geasair, Chris Silberman and Tim McGrath. Plays March 23rd - April 15th - Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30p Sundays at 6:00p. For tickets or more information click here.