Playwright Ron Reed sets out to tackle some ambitious themes in Refuge of Lies. Just to name a handful: the persistence of guilt, the reality of redemption, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the nature of justice as opposed to vengeance. The potential power of such themes, however, gets hopelessly diffused in some muddled storytelling.
Inspired by a true story, the play has as its central character Rudi, a beloved retired teacher in Canada. He's being pursued by a Jewish reporter from Holland named Simon, who has identified Rudi as a Nazi collaborator during the occupation of the Netherlands, helping the SS round up Jews.
The revelation throws Rudi's wife, his friends, and pastor into a state of dismay. They argue that even if Simon's accusations are true, Rudi nevertheless is a completely different person than he was back then. He was baptized after the war to wash away his sins and now is a good man who should be forgiven. But as the arguments go back and forth, the play gets caught in a vicious circle of repetition, without furthering or credibly dramatizing the deep theses Reed has set for himself. Rudi's goodness is never demonstrated, although we are told in one of the play's dimmest moments that he is loved by pigeons. We do see him being haunted by specters from the pas, but it's unclear whether the episodes are actual flashbacks or imaginings.
Director Steve Day's staging is also burdened by the script's jarringly abrupt shifts in time and locale, and as the actors make their multitudinous exits and entrances through the four doors of the appropriately bleak unit set, the show begins to take on the mechanics of farce — without the laughs, of course. For the most part, the actors, led by Richard Mawe as Rudi and Lorraine Serabian as his wife, drive their roles with commendable fervor, but they can't steer clear of the bumpy writing.
Presented by Firebone Theatre at the Lion Theatre, 410 W. 42nd St., NYC. Sept. 17-28. Tue.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 2 p.m. (212) 279-4200 or www.ticketcentral.com.