'True' scarier than fiction

REBECCA ROSENTHAL/YH 'So, what did he mean when he said he wanted to know me from the inside?'.

This weekend, the Yale Cabaret takes advantage of its basement location to get dark and really damn scary. Tripp Cullman, DRA '02, has written and directed Absolutely True, an occasionally musical play that goes deep into the anguished and repulsive psyche of a child molester modeled after Jeffrey Dahmer, not to mention the workshop where he stuffs and displays his victims' bodies.

Norm (Angus Beasley, DRA '02), is a brutally honest and not remotely normal man. He tells Prana (Jackson Gay, DRA '02) right off the bat that what he'd normally do with a young, pretty thing like herself would be to outrage her maidenhood and then remove her entrails. For her part, Prana has been messed-up enough by disillusionment with her superficial mainstream existence that she accepts his invitation to come out of the cold and into his cozy little dungeon. Weird shit ensues. Who'da thunk?

Despite its original script and original songs, Absolutely True suffers from predictability. The characterization of Norm follows exactly the persona of Dahmer, whose autobiographical reflections are quoted several times in the program. There are also echoes of Silence of the Lambs and the rest of the cinematic horror genre. The mental machinations of a madman being an established trope, Norm's ravings can only be so impressive, and are mostly grating and disgusting. We see a tantalizing glimpse of his ability to interact with another person in a bloodless fashion at the beginning of the play, but we soon and permanently get tangled up in the gory details.

Disconcertingly, there are also a lot of laughs. Cullman, a master of our generation's brand of ironic humor, skillfully employs witty ping-pong dialogue and absurdist physical timing. He also fearlessly mixes in shockingly vile visual and verbal humor, e.g. "What's the worst thing about having sex with a four-year-old?" Ack. Every chuckle that he elicits is tinged with the strong feeling that hell awaits those who laugh at such things.

Technically speaking, this production has a variety of good features, not least of which is the cast's talent. The costumes and choreography are surprisingly good for such a small show. It's a short one, too, barely making the other side of an hour. But those 60-odd minutes, if they don't change your life, are at least enough to give you nightmares for many days to come.

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