It has taken me a week to get to this write-up. Processing Second Thought Theatre’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning has certainly taken me longer than expected. Plus, I was partly fearful to revisit Will Arbery’s play that centered on four young conservative Catholics with varying degrees of conviction. The show is frightening with its heavily layered dialogue and ideology, but it is also beautifully and smartly written as well as perfectly acted and directed.
On paper, the play may be a hard sell – especially for this LGBTQ readership: Four white conservative and religious types debating their own satisfaction in their beliefs over two hours with no intermission? But, that may just be the very reason to see this.
Hear me out.
Directed by Jay Duffer, the show felt very voyeuristic, since you are watching these four in the backyard at a house party celebrating the appointment of Dr. Gina Presson (Emily Gray) as president of their alma mater, the Transfiguration College. The four share personal and profound conversations amid swigs of whiskey and beers in a mix of dynamics, from one-on-one up to all four conversing over a fire pit that rests just before ominous dark woods.
Arbery painted a complete picture of his characters representing varying degrees of their faiths and politics. And as they chat and debate, the conversations feel like we are watching them interact without them knowing we are watching — as if this is what “they” talk about when alone in a cone of silence. But it’s also nightmarish in the way they talk so freely of non-whites, LGBTQ people (especially the trans community), abortion. Wherever they fall on the spectrum, it’s all “anti.”
When the voice of reason enters in the latter half as Gina, there’s almost a sigh of relief that she would ease the boiling tension among Teresa, Kevin, Justin and Emily — but mostly in Teresa. While Gina does present an educated and calm position as an old school conservative of the ’70s and ’80s who sees Trump as a charlatan, her deeply-held religious beliefs don’t allow room for perspectives.
The cast was impeccable in this nonstop drama. As Emily, Savannah Yasmine Elayyach is a heartwarming moderate who suffers from severe chronic pain. Her empathy and logic were multifaceted and sympathetic. Maybe less moderate was Mac Welch’s preppy Kevin, a drunken, self-hating and horny young professional who questions his religion and its convenience. Kevin has also — or he thinks he has — caught feelings for Emily which doesn’t help matters.
Justin seems to have his own feelings for Emily, and Taylor Harris played that with incredible subtlety. Physically imposing, Justin came off as dangerous, but Harris allowed the much more conservative character a well of depth. He felt like he found respite in his deep dive into religion and simply believes it and the aligning politics because it’s just easy to do.
Teresa is the conservative we all fear, and Dani Nelson’s performance was horrifyingly good. Highly educated, the character has also fallen prey to pundit-talk and propaganda ensuring a war is coming. Nelson rattled off her arguments and rebuttals as if they were coming from her soul. No one was safe — not even her idol, Emily’s mother and her former professor, Dr. Presson. Emily Gray brought astonishing gravitas in her extended scene. Her sophisticated performance tempered the intensity of the show only to ignite a fiery battle between her and Teresa. The volleying between the two actors was masterful.
Technically, the show was beautiful. Justin Locklear’s scenic backyard set was oddly silent save for the menacing generator blasts. The darkness and Aaron Johansen’s specific lighting almost gave the feeling of this all being elsewhere. Like, this is what the Twilight Zone really looks like. Staunchly directed by Jay Duffer, the show never let its weight lighten – even in humorous moments. The show always felt like it was moving toward a certain doom and taking the audience with it.
Heroes may be more horror story than drama in that the horror is simply humanity. Progressives will love it, and conservatives will feel picked on. But Arbery’s writing felt more a study of those far right — and thereby far gone conservatives — with some voices of “reason” allowed to give the show humanity. Arbery’s insight felt worth knowing how some people can weaponize their beliefs and not sway. But he’s so complete in his portrayal that I (who would count myself more liberal) found myself agreeing with some of his dialogue. These fleshed-out characters were both right and wrong in many ways, and to even think like them – if for a moment – was something scary. But also, perhaps that’s the brilliance of Heroes.
The show runs through April 13.
–Rich Lopez
