Say You Love Satan by Shipping Dock
Theatre | Fridays and Saturdays 8 p.m., through July 29 | Visual Studies
Workshop, 31 Prince Street,
232-2250, www.shippingdocktheatre.org | $18-$22.
Summer lovin’ with the prince of
darkness
Everyone loves a bad boy. This is scientific fact, proven
throughout history by pioneering researchers like Marc Antony and Don Juan, up
through modern examples like Colin Farrell and Tommy Lee. And nobody’s badder than the Big D, Lucifer Morningstar himself, a.k.a.
Satan. If dating a rocker like Tommy Lee is quite the party — and it is, if
the tabs and sex tapes are to be believed — then hooking up with the devil
must be a wild ride indeed. That’s the premise behind Say You Love Satan, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s
romantic comedy currently receiving a hellishly entertaining staging by
Shipping Dock Theatre.
Andrew is a gay grad student living in Baltimore. He’s looking forward to spending a
Saturday night with the man of his dreams, Fyodor Dostoevsky, whoseBrothers
Karamazov he’s reading while waiting to do the fluff ‘n’ fold at the
Laundromat. His cute gal pal, Bernadette, harasses him via cellphone,
desperate to get Andrew back on the scene following his brutal dumping by self-absorbed
actor Chad.
Andrew’s not interested in dating — that is, until a
mysterious stranger named Jack walks in, whips off his shirt, and strikes up a
conversation about The Possessed.
Before Andrew can say no, Jack whisks him away for a night of dancing and
intellectual debate. The perpetually jaded Andrew is swept off his feet,
brought down to earth only when Jack confesses that his real name is Abadon, and his dad just happens to be a horny fellow named Satan.
Should Andrew continue dating a guy who he knows is totally
wrong for him — shacking up with Jack makes him a pretty good candidate for
eternal damnation, after all — but with whom he has so much fun? Or should he
pick the figurative angel on his other shoulder, Jerrod, the cute, smart, exceedingly
sweet med student whom Andrew continually rebuffs because he’s just so
disgustingly perfect?
Thus begins the central conflict of the play, which the
first act expertly mines for some very realistic subtext and great comic
mileage. Unfortunately, the second act is kind of screwed. In addition to a
puzzling revelation about Jack, what was fun and campy in the first half
inevitably has to be taken seriously by the end. While theological interesting,
the literal mechanics of how to save someone’s soul from the source of all evil
can’t help but come off a little goofy.
But overall, Aguirre-Sacasa
delivers a witty, breezy script, and the Shipping Dock crew gives the devil his
due. The night I saw Satan, leads
Sammy Urzetta (Andrew) and Brad Holzer
(Jack) took a few scenes to relax and fully inhabit their characters. But once
there, Urzetta was impressive with his natural
embodiment of the insecurities Andrew must have to leave him so susceptible to
temptation. And Holzer — practically the spitting
image of lothario Brian Kinney from the American version of gay soap Queer as Folk — plays Jack with
terrific restraint, alternating between seductive, playful, and ultimately a
little menacing. The lone female cast member, Katherine Mueller, does every fag
hag proud as Bernadette.
Finally, a plea: The audience was shamefully small on the
Saturday performance I attended. Say You
Love Satan is perfect summer stage, loaded with witty banter, pop culture
references, an engaging plot and characters, and even some fine naked male torsos on display. These actors work their butts
off, so get yours in the seats. As for me, I’m going
to spend more time at the Laundromat.
This article appears in Jul 19-25, 2006.
