Review: This Spooky Action World Premiere Takes a Crack at Divine Intervention
Christopher T. Hampton’s Cracking Zeus, directed by Reginald L. Douglas, is a deeply satisfying, if not altogether perfect, trip to the theater.
By D.R. Lewis
September 26, 2024
This review originally appeared in Washington City Paper.
By the time the lights come down on Christopher T. Hampton’s Cracking Zeus, playing at Spooky Action Theater through October 13, what was once a tiny white pebble has grown into the equivalent of a tennis ball-size moon rock. As it passes through the community’s hands, this embodiment of crack cocaine glows brighter as it grows in correlation to the destruction it serves to catalyze.
But, despite the constant pall of addiction that hangs over the play, Cracking Zeus is not really a play about crack. Instead, Hampton used the recreational drug to explore gnawing hunger in its many manifestations: loneliness, vindictiveness, curiosity, addiction, and greed among them. When Greek goddess Hera (Nicole Ruthmarie) discovers that her unseen husband Zeus’ infidelity has produced a son, Baniaha (Charles Franklin IV), she descends onto the boy’s mortal community to kill him in revenge. Seeing the power that the drug holds over residents of the neighborhood, she resolves to reveal Baniaha’s godly lineage and deceive him into addiction, crushing his mother, church leader Momma Jo (Lolita Marie), alongside him.
Blending elements of classic Greek storytelling, including a chorus, with modern structure, Hampton has crafted a wholly original work that successfully merges the two worlds. He accomplishes a driving momentum throughout the play’s concise 95-minute run and avoids a detour into the history of crack in favor of a laser focus on story. By doing so, he frees the characters to deliver subtle but clear commentary on addiction, greed, and religion (and the relationship between all three). He writes naturally and distinctively, a talent that allows him to take the bold dramatic risks on which Cracking Zeus relies, and the final product makes for a deeply satisfying, if not altogether perfect, trip to the theater.
Ironically, it is in Hera that we see the bulk of the fissures in Hampton’s otherwise taut text. Hampton sets Hera apart as a mythical being primarily through grandiose language (and Ruthmarie embodies an accordant stature and delivery as well as possible), but her entrances often feel like speed bumps in otherwise snappy, economical dialogue. The shift often catches the audience by surprise and requires readjustment. That the other characters engage with Hera in their own natural speaking patterns, but seemingly fail to acknowledge her own rarefied delivery, induces some further confusion. One wonders whether adapting her character to more closely align with the majority of the play’s style would in turn strengthen the character’s case for blending into the community as she works to exact her revenge. The balance of the plot devices Hampton employs and the production elements that signal her presence are surely enough to differentiate her as a divine being.
Even so, director Reginald L. Douglas (artistic director of Mosaic Theater Company who also directed this month’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill) smoothes the few rough edges, securing a happy marriage of text and talent. Marie delightfully turns on a dime from inspiring church matriarch to money-hungry businessperson as church “owner, founder, treasurer and pastor” Momma Jo. As Rufus, a former boyfriend of Momma Jo who assists Hera on the promise of help to overcome his addiction, DeJeanette Horne channels both the euphoria of intoxication and the agony of withdrawal without transcending into caricature. Both Marie and Horne skillfully tee up their characters for a wide redemption arc from the outset, facilitating a rewarding, if difficult, final turn.
As Baniaha, Franklin IV is fully committed to the performance, even in the moments when he fades (purposefully) into the background. He seizes on Baniaha’s pain at not knowing his father’s identity to heartbreaking effect, but when a first taste of romantic love and his innate power are revealed, Franklin’s entire demeanor changes in a scary transformation. Tasked with undergoing the starkest evolution, from doormat to demigod, Franklin plays every moment earnestly to the play’s inevitable, yet still surprising, end. Cracking Zeus makes clear that, like Hampton, Franklin is a talent to watch, as are the four young performers who double as church youth group and Greek chorus. Howard University students Destiny Jennings, Christina Daniels, and Dupre Isaiah, and Bowie State University student Jacobie Thornton, are natural talents, pumping refreshing energy into the performance and pulling the spirit of Momma Jo’s budding movement out onto the brand-new marble steps for us to see.
On a postage stamp-size set (consisting mainly of a church stoop and encampment where Rufus sleeps), scenic designer Barrett Doyle has managed to provide six distinct entryways, which Douglas employs to keep the action moving quickly and the audience engaged with the entire space. Malory Hartman’s lighting design goes far in defying the limits of the small physical space and filling in the setting, and sound designer Navi nicely conjures tempestuous weather.
The 60 or so seats in the small downstairs space at the Universalist National Memorial Church are not enough to accommodate all of those who should see this play in its brief run. And there’s an irony that Hampton’s first full-length work, in a strong world premiere, is being performed literally on the ground floor. Get in while you can.
Cracking Zeus, written by Christopher T. Hampton and directed by Reginald L. Douglas, runs through Oct. 13 at Spooky Action Theater, located inside the Universalist National Memorial Church. spookyaction.org. $15–$37.50. Pay What You Can performances available.
Nicole Ruthmarie as Hera in Cracking Zeus at Spooky Action Theater. Credit: DJ Corey Photography