A working airlock, glitching computer screens, and a spaceship so convincing you'd swear you were aboard. Axis Theatre's Specimen has all the makings of an extraordinary sci-fi experience. Unfortunately, while the production design is out of this world, the script leaves much to be desired.
Credit: Regina Betancourt
After much acclaim, an encore engagement of new play Specimen by Randall Sharp was staged by Axis Theatre Company at their own space in Sheridan Square, a fantastic little black box downtown. The minute we stepped inside, we were immersed in the world of the play, with newspaper articles and specimen jars on display and every screen showing a continuous loop of advertising and propaganda from head office.
The design was incredible, with no cost spared, it seemed, on the set, props, and costumes. As we took our seats, we looked around the command center of a space vessel, including a working airlock, remnants of a laboratory with tools, jars, and paperwork littering the desks and surfaces, and computer screens glitching periodically throughout. The detail created a real, lived-in look for a setting not often attempted on stage, making the set truly shine and, I fear, positioning the rest of the piece for debilitating disappointment.
From the opening lines, the script proved a mess. A setup didn't exist. We were dropped into the middle of an exploratory mission, where plenty had apparently gone awry but with little to no explanation of what or how. I kept expecting some development, expanding on backstory, and while there were occasional, minute pieces of information injected into the chaos of the dialogue, very little occurred to deepen our understanding of the world in front of us. This may have been a deliberate choice, allowing the audience to make up their own mind about the goings-on of the ship; however, it was not executed well enough to work or be satisfying. It was merely frustrating.
Courtesy: Regina Betancourt
The play was perfectly positioned for a commentary on the greed and self-serving nature of capitalism, and how discrimination manifests in different ways, but missed it by a light year. The blurb itself told us more than we were shown on the stage. Instead, while it had the opportunity to say so much, it ended up not really saying anything at all. Lasting only 75 minutes with no intermission, the lack of a thread was enough to leave me looking at the clock, and that's not a good sign.
The actors, however, did a remarkable job. Considering the script didn't flow in any kind of linear or conversational way, learning their lines must have been a much harder task than normal. Yet each of them created a strong world for their respective character, boldly following their choices, even though the script led each in a vastly different direction. Notable mentions were Brian Barnhart as the Specimen and Britt Genelin as Overholser, who both jumped between thoughts and actions in a nuanced and honest way. Barnhart had a particularly physically demanding role, and his performance was believably fearful and exhausting.
I'm not certain how this play received enough praise to garner an encore run, unless people simply wanted to feast their eyes on such a well-designed set. (The costumes and props were also elite.) I left questioning how a company can go so hard on the details and not finesse the words? Even as an absurdist piece, the script needs work.
