Theater Review - Savage life

Despite its 10 p.m. start time, Savage Tree’s The Good Life isn’t Sleepy. Still, The Good Life’s blend of theater and dance serves as a kind of accidental sequel to Sleepy, Dad’s Garage’s intriguing, recently closed world premiere. Each show unfolds at roughly an hour and features four short, sinister vignettes by playwright (and Creative Loafing contributor) Steve Yockey. The Good Life includes three of Sleepy’s actors (Lauren Gunderson, Alison Hastings and J. Joe Sykes) and shares similar themes and formats, extending Yockey’s explorations of humanity’s dark sides via monologues or one-sided conversations.

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The Good Life shakes off Sleepy’s surreal suspense with four muscular dance pieces, choreographed (and often performed) by Erin Greenway. Alternating between Greenway and Yockey, between movement and language, the show turns out to have an ironic title by presenting life at its most fraught and unsettling.

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Greenway uses dance to wordlessly examine specific domestic problems. In the opening piece, “No Better,” the two dancers’ frenetic moves evoke the heat of a lovers’ spat and build to actual physical abuse. When Greenway uses a bottle of wine as a prop in “The Substance You Gave Me,” we suspect she’s staging a symbolic dance with alcoholism. The choreographer also finds room for humor: “6 p.m. on a Friday” depicts three commuters channel-surfing the radio and spontaneously bursting into dance. It’s as if the music inspires a fleeting, imaginary catharsis while they’re stuck in traffic, and Justin Sims’ spectacular moves seem worthy of an acrobat or martial artist.

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Yockey’s plays prove more quietly disturbing. The three overlapping speeches of “Bright. Apple. Crush.” present seemingly ordinary people who respond to stress with ghastly violence. “Letter Box’s” speaker (Hastings) recites her love notes that at first seem pathetically clueless, then manic and stalkerish. The final monologue, “Bittersweet,” finds some welcome laughs as a gabby misanthrope (Suehyla El-Attar) admits to having humorous nightmares and more disturbing memories of killing her imaginary friends.

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Yockey’s short works have enough grounding in character and detail to feel like more than shock value vignettes, and Greenway’s dances, despite their own dark themes, release the tension built up in the plays. Part of Savage Tree’s A Touch of Madness Festival, The Good Life has only two more performances, but it provides a memorable showcase for some gifted local artists.

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Savage Tree Arts Center presents The Good Life Fri.-Sat., Nov. 25-26, 10 p.m. The Academy Theatre, 12 N. Clarendon Road. $10. 770-798-1350. www.savagetree.org.