Hookman: At the Western Stage 2X4 BASH
Lauren Yee’s “The Hookman” begins with UCONN
student named Lexi (A magnetic Niki Moon) on a Winter Break cut
tragically short with the accidental death of her best friend. She is
haunted by the image of the dreaded “hookman” of Urban Legend
and finds herself in an existential crisis as the madman seems to be
stalking her and her college friends. The darkly comic script is often
vicious in cutting dialogue. Our main character is not the sympathetic
“final girl” most often portrayed in these stories
as she is incredibly self-obsessed, arrogant, and dismissive of others.
It’s really only her fear of the Hookman himself that humanizes her
throughout the existential crisis of the play.
The play features some warning with regards to the
adult content; stark and uneasy conversations regarding rape and social
politics, drug use, alcoholism, and sexuality. We explore the deeper
changes of an individual when they leave their
home and embark on a new life in a distant college, the changes that
take place when she returns home, and that early rejection of who one
“used to be” as if it were trade up of who they “want to be”. There are
some gore effects, but the play seems hesitant
to play on the horror aspects of these moments and quickly hides any
real effects and barely embraces the blood the story seems to be relying
on.
Performances are extremely good with the stand out
manic energy of Chelsea Palmer (as Chloe) driving some hilarious moments
of conversational confusion. Micaela David delivers a natural
performance as Jess that slowly builds throughout
the course of the play, delivering a stunning duo performance with Moon
on a specific monologue/duologue(?) that I won’t spoil here. It is
bloody marvelous, however. And the Hookman himself is an imposing
presence, prancing with psychotic glee as he stalks
the cast.
4 out of 5.
