Why Torture Is Wrong, And The People Who Love Them – New Theatre

Overview

Why Torture Is Wrong, And The People Who Love Them will leave you confused. Not because the script or themes are disarmingly perplexing, but rather because you’re unsure how to feel at the play's conclusion — it’s a feeling that continues to resonate on reflection.

There's many a laughworthy opportunity in WTIWATPWLT (!) but you’ll also pick up on a great many frustrating elements. You’ll be rooting for the female characters to get their revenge, but then the play wimps out at their point of redemption. Rather than coming away from the performance with something meaningful, you merely depart with ambiguity — which is a real shame given how enjoyable the play's opening scene is.

Felicity (Ainslie McGlynn) wakes in the arms of a man she quickly learns is her new husband Zamir (Terry Karabelas), who she drunkenly married at Hooters the night before. Classic. Watching McGlynn wrestling free from Karabelas' big spoon grip will have you in stitches, but watching Felicity's inability to break free from the terrifying misogyny Zamir exerts over her over the course of the next two hours will not. He threatens her with violence and date rapes her, and while you’re hoping (and expecting) Felicity to get her revenge, she doesn’t — instead offering Zamir hope and forgiveness. What could have been a powerful statement against a huge societal problem is forgone and the play and its audience are worse off as a result.

Thankfully, in amongst the play's exploration of misogynistic terror, there is Felicity’s mother (Alice Livingstone). Livingstone steals the show with her hilarious and absurd portrayal of a wife who escapes from the reality of her life by burying herself in theatre. She is an extreme exaggeration of why we go to the theatre and because of that baseline connection with us all, the audience is drawn towards Livingstone's wonderfully realised character — and left wanting much more stage time from her.

Sadly though, Livingstone is the only real reason to go and see Torture. Whilst the play’s analysis of post-Bush America’s obsession with terror and its misunderstandings is scripted brilliantly by playwright Christopher Durang, it’s delivery unfortunately doesn’t drive the point home as deep as it could. The torture scenes between Felicity’s father and Zamir are clunky, buried in noise and distracting blocking — and featuring a character named Looney Tunes that makes those scenes just frustrating to watch. Just give us more of Felicity’s mother.

There are enjoyable times in the show (mainly involving Alice Livingstone), but the rest of the play doesn’t go near these well-executed heights. Reviewing Torture has actually proved quite cathartic in retrospect — the more you think on it, it seems the play doesn’t leave you confused, just disappointed.