BATTERY
Tight & Shiny Theatre Productions at Greenview Arts Center
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Daniel Therriault’s Battery (described as an “electric love story”) is not simply another gothic parable, however. The hubris reflected in Rip’s boast that he “controls electricity” is genuine enough, but his foray into do-it-yourself electroconvulsive therapy is motivated as much by a wish to heal his partner the way he mends broken lamps and toasters as by any selfish desire to prove himself master of the universe. “Modern exorcism,” he insists. “To extract what the ancients perceived as the devil. . . . I never take anything in. I always fix it myself.” But as every father discovers, the creation of new life must change the status quo: Stan’s new, improved intelligence means the possibility of growth and the seeds of ambition–an ambition that proves infectious.
Tight & Shiny Theater Productions have a reputation for meticulously crafted work–unlike many other young companies, which rely more on energy and emotion than on intelligence. Though it’s still early in the year, Battery promises to be one of the small, bright lights of 1994.
Griffin Theatre is to be commended for adding a late-night series to its schedule, but one hopes the next selection will be better.
