IN A MEAT GRINDER
Lookingglass vividly shows how women scrape for a living at packing plant
You enter the world of Alexander Zeldin’s soul- stripping “Beyond Caring” through the sort of heavy vinyl curtain that often serves as a door to the back rooms of a supermarket. And you might as well have entered a modern day Underworld— the work room of ameat processing plant defined by the unrelenting glare of fluorescent lights, grimy walls, a cement floor and a counter full of unlabeled disinfectant sprays that are no doubt highly toxic.
Before long, three women, all clearly desperate for jobs, arrive for “orientation.” They have been sent by an employment agency as “temporary workers”— a euphemism for low wages, no benefits, short- term contracts with uncertain payroll dates and the most appalling work conditions. Anyone who has ever complained of being stuck in an office cubicle doing mind- numbing computer work might instantly begin to thank their lucky stars.
And so it goes in this remarkable “immersive” production that originated in London and has been reconfigured by Zeldin for Lookingglass Theatre’s American edition, with the backing of Dark Harbor Stories, a company ( composed of David Schwimmer, Tom Hodges, Philip R. Smith and David Catlin) devoted to telling socially relevant stories.
Be advised: “Beyond Caring” ( for mature audiences) is harrowing in many ways, with the grueling physical and emotional lives of its characters sure to take a toll on actors and audiences alike.
In a sense, Lookingglass is coming full circle with this production, evoking a formidable early work: its 1990 stage adaptation of “The Jungle,” Upton Sinclair’s landmark expose of the Chicago meatpacking industry and the immigrants exploited by it. The work also can be seen as a fitting addition to the list of such recent plays that uncover the all- too- often invisible anguish of the working poor, from David Lindsay-Abaire’s “Good People” and Abe Koogler’s “Kill Floor,” to Lynn Nottage’s new Broadway hit “Sweat.”
The three new employees of the unnamed factory in Zeldin’s play include: Tracy ( J. Nicole Brooks), a physically strong, highly capable, smolderingly angry African- American woman of about 30; Sonia ( Wendy Mateo), a Latina with a limited command of English who is so poverty- stricken that she misses meals and is lucky if she can afford the fare to get to and from work, and Ebony- Grace ( Caren Blackmore), the youngest of the group, a 23- year- old African- American suffering from crippling rheumatoid arthritis whose disability payments may have run out.
Their boss is Ian ( Keith D. Gallagher), an educated white guy deeply frustrated by his lot in life whose rage robs him of any compassion. The only person for whom he shows the slightest empathy is Phil ( Edwin Lee Gibson), the 50- year- old African- American suffering from depression.
So just what happens in “Beyond Caring”? Initially we watch as Phil and the women do the exhausting grunt work of scrubbing the floors, walls and toilets of the plant’s communal spaces with barely any training or safety precautions provided.
But if the initial cleaning work seems debilitating, it is nothing compared with the scrubbing and disinfecting of the most disgusting meat- encrusted machinery for hours on end. ( Applause for Daniel Ostling’s set and Amanda Herrmann’s props.)
The magic of Zeldin’s production is rooted in several things: the intimacy of those scenes in which this group of intensely private and selfprotective people occasionally connect; the devastating loneliness that can be sensed in their many silences; the sheer brute physicality of their labor.
The ideally chosen actors are uniformly superb, fueled by Brooks’ gale force temper, Mateo’s quiet desperation, Blackmore’s heartrending determination, Gibson’s altogether haunting sadness and sweetness, and Gallagher’s bitter resentment— all combining to create an engine of humanity that is fully inhumane in every element of its existence.
You might well leave the theater wondering just how much worse it could get given the possible dismantling of federally mandated work rules and protections during the current administration. Terrifying to imagine.