Playwright Brad Fraser has been one of the more notable entities in Canadian theatre for a couple of decades. This 1989 noir theatre piece still impresses as a ripe example of his work that truly demands forceful ensemble acting. Voices, words, and images crowd in on the viewer from a shadowy stage, figures move in a surrealistic choreography as the action develops, and gradually the very linear threads of Fraser's tale begin to weave together into a commanding tapestry of human angst, confusion, terror, romance, and dark humor.
His twentysomething misfits in Edmonton thrash about in a cloud of confusion, torn by being round pegs in square holes, or vice versa, trying to mold lives that have at least a little meaning. Central to Fraser's tale is young homosexual waiter David, once a Canadian television star, and his heterosexual roommate, Candy, a book reviewer who can't explain her own story, whether she belongs with a pseudo-macho bartender or a lesbian at her gym. Complicating things are David's best friend, Bernie, who keeps showing up at the apartment dripping with blood and claiming he has been in another fight, and Kane, David's 17-year-old busboy friend who worshiped David on-screen and doesn't know how to handle his feelings in his idol's presence.
There is also the icon of Benita, David's psychic, sexually powerful friend, who spices the narrative with tales of recent serial murders of young women, like an oracle setting the tone of the group's future. One of Fraser's points is that, like these murders, people kill their relationships by lying to one another, and themselves, and tragically distancing themselves from their own worlds. It's a difficult piece that almost makes it in this production but is hampered by some halting transitions and rhythms that don't always lead the viewer into the play's heart and soul.
Under Don Stewart's direction, which hits correctly on character balance but loses force in presentation, there are some very worthy performances. Jason Frost's David is properly charming and often funny, and he settles realistically into the darkness of the later scenes, a viable portrait of a young man at odds with himself. As Candy, Roxanne Meyers is also excellent, showing her character's weakness and strength simultaneously. Both are playing with a full deck of subtext.
Steven Shields is less effective as Bernie, a little too heavy-handed and gross to really excite David's obvious admiration, and Taylor Newendorp's Kane is too restrained and colorless to be effective. Robert Tobin as the hunky bartender is not hunky enough and not dumb enough to work well with Meyers' Candy. Aomawa Baker's lesbian Jerri works better as a direct emotional contrast to Candy's confusion, and Vanessa Claire Smith handles the many-shaded role of Benita well, without really finding the woman's inner power.
"Unindentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love," presented by Ark Theatre Company at the NoHo Actors Studio, 5215 Lankershim Blvd., N. Hollywood. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 7 p.m. Sept. 8-Oct. 7. $10-15. (323) 969-1707.