Into the abyss
‘Love and Human Remains’ offers sex, drugs and horror.
Horror movies are big business. Horror plays? They aren’t so common. But Infinite Abyss founder Erynn Dalton has found one she digs so much that she’s been in it twice.
Whenthe now-defunct Sol Theatre Project did Canadian playwright Brad Fraser’s “Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love” in 2006, Dalton played Benita, a psychic and storyteller with a penchant for sex, drugs, horror tales and the little ditty “Lavender Blue.”
Now, at the Abyss Theatre in Wilton Manors where the play is being presented under the title “Love and Human Remains” (thatwas also the title of the1993 Canadian movie version of the play), Dalton is back in the terror-meets-eroticism business.
This time, Dalton has staged the production, and she’s playing Candy, one of the young adults who’s worried that there’s a serial killer on the loose. She’s right, actually. She just doesn’t realize yet that the mad murderer is someone she knows.
The horror story is juxtaposed against a more “conventional” tale of singles looking for love. The denizens of this deadly spot in the Pacific North-west are gay, straight, bi/ undecided, male, female, promiscuous, seeking a partner, hot for sex or wary of it. All in all, the pool of potential victims runs deep.
In the middle of it all are Candy (Dalton) and her gay roommate David (Anton Simon), an actor-turned-server whose thing is quick, anonymous sex. Candy would prefer a relationship, but she’s not sure whether it should be with bartender Robert (Mitch Lemos) or teacher Jerri (Siobhan Nolan), so she gives both a whirl.
Also in the seething mix of libidos are Bernie (Dominick J. Daniel), amarried longtime pal of Candy and David who keeps showing up at their place mysteriously bloodied; Kane (Phillip Andrew Santiago), a rich-kid teen busboy who soon learns that playing with the big kids can be risky; and Benita (Daryl Patrice), who dresses as if to satisfy someone’s schoolgirl fetish and who gets deep pleasure from sharing urban legends designed to make the skin crawl.
Dalton, who also did the show’s sound design, and lighting designer Mike Graham keep things murky and creepy. Someone whispers, “Everybody lies,” and you wonder if the speaker is behind you – or, gulp, beside you.
“Love and Human Remains” is an Infinite Abyss production running through March18 at the Abyss Theatre, 2304N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors. Show times are 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. Tickets cost $25. To order, call 954-519-2533 or go to islandcitystage.org.