The Theater Project Gets Laughs with 'Torture'

The Theater Project captures all the zany darkness of "Why Torture Is Wrong and the People Who Love Them" in a hilarious and perceptively staged production at Union County College in Cranford. This 2009 off-Broadway hit, written by Christopher Durang, opens with Felicity (Meghan Murray), a newlywed bride, awakening next to her new husband, Zamir (Phil Eichinger). Zamir, it turns out, is a complete, and somewhat unsavory, stranger.

Shaken, Felicity heads to her parents' home in Maplewood, but the parents only make matters worse. Dad (Gary Glor) is cripplingly paranoid, convinced he serves a shadow government, while Mom (Harriett Trangucci) is paralyzed into a life of theater babble (or, perhaps, genius to those who know their theater).

Durang mounts an assault on the fourth wall that begins with some odd (and very funny) public-address announcements, reminiscent of MASH, and escalates into a strobe light attack on the fabric of the space-time continuum. The last few minutes may actually get a little too zany, even a little too saccharine. But most of the journey is a surprising, engaging and playful tug-of-war with the characters jumping in and out of their theatrical reality, all while serving Durang's dark brew of acerbic wit.

The Theater Project, a professional company based at Union County College, and artistic director Mark Spina make a habit of reviving shows that are just the right fit for the resources available and then producing them creatively. Every dollar spent seems to produce two dollars in impact on the stage. The opening scene, for example, is set in a vertical bed that makes an interesting scene extraordinary.  

The entire cast excels. Eichinger wisely chooses not to go too far over the top as Zamir, giving the show a necessary secondary anchor. Glor and Trangucci make the most of roles that require both comedic and dramatic deftness amid the spiraling madness. Murray handles the central role of the non-crazy well, but even she can't quite take enough sweetness out of a final scene that turns preachy in a contradiction of all that has gone before it.

"Torture" is playing Thursday through Sunday nights until Aug. 1. This reviewer is not the only fan – the audience was laughing out loud throughout most of the show.