Yet another premiere comes to St. Louis with the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis’s production of The Gradient. It’s a slightly futuristic idea about a company that uses algorithms to treat men who’ve exhibited sexual misconduct.
Steph Del Rosso’s play gives us a strong, very controlled Natalia (Christina Acosta Robinson), who’s one of the directors of the program, and a young, newly hired counselor Tess (Stephanie Machado) to show us how this works. It’s an inpatient treatment program, although it’s not clear whether it’s voluntary or whether people are placed there by court order. Therapy at the facility seems to be a very assertive interaction that enlarges on traditional methods, confronting the clients and not holding back. It’s all based on algorithms.
Those clients are played by Stephen Cefalu, Jr. and Yousof Sultani. Cefalu inhabits eight different characters in a series of blackouts that is remarkable, and very funny. Sultani is Jackson, a single, pivotal character. William Demerrit plays the sole male employee we see, who only works behind the scenes.
The criteria for a man to be discharged from the program, or to graduate if that’s a more palatable word, are rather vague. One of them, though, is an apology. In the (only available online here ) program, director Amelia Acosta Powell, the Rep’s associate artistic director, she talks about “performative utterance”, a act of speaking that alters reality, and asks if apologies are performative utterances. Do they alter reality? Or are they merely performances? Apologies, real or not, really don’t alter reality. We measure reality by behavior. An apology, however articulate it sounds, is worthless if there is no change in both the apologizer and what they do in the future. Sometimes it’s hard to judge the latter factor, certainly, but behavior is really the primary criteria.
How are they assessing whether a client really does regret what they did? How do they judge whether he understands why the behavior was wrong? It’s particularly relevant in the case of Jackson, Tess’ client who is just a little too smooth. The faint sheen of oiliness soon begins to appear.
Somewhere in the program, the play is described as a satire. In another note, the play’s described as portraying a cure for toxic behavior. Perhaps that’s the satire. While there are some very funny moments, it feels not-funny. Nevertheless, this is a beautifully put together piece of work, from the acting to Carolyn Mraz’ set and Mextly Couzin’s lighting.
It was clearly intended to be disconcerting, and it does just that.
The Gradient
through October 24
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis
Berges Theater at COCA
6880 Washington Ave, University City
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