By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com
photo by Tim ffuller
From left, Hannah (Cynthia Jeffrey), Thomas (John Noble) and Brandt (Steve Wood) share in the pain of Thomas' mishap.
Invisible Theatre has raised the ante, upped the stakes and gone for broke with its intensely deep and ever-probing production of “The Busy World Is Hushed,” directed by Nancy Davis Booth.
The search for truth and sincerity in one's own Christian faith is laid out on stage as full cloth sliced into many pieces. Because decades have passed since pop culture first swore its allegiance to the secular world of Godless values, it feels odd to be watching this family drama where God himself is a central figure.
We begin with Hannah (Cynthia Jeffery), a widowed Episcopalian minister ecstatic in her need to believe she may have discovered a lost gospel, one actually written many years before Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. A gospel so pure it would contain the truest picture of Christ. The real Christ, not some homogenized blend of many compromised versions edited long years after the Crucifixion.
Hannah believes she is great at doing the hard research part of this quest, but not so great at navigating the knotty academics required to write a learned paper able to withstand the vigorous scrutiny of jealous Bible scholars.
Then we meet Brandt (Steve Wood), the professional Hannah has hired to write her paper. Brandt is so brilliant he has nearly lost his faith in the very Church that raised him. Brandt is also homosexual, a primary reason for his cynical attitude toward Christian love.
Completing this triumvirate of competing personalities is 26-year-old Thomas, the equally brilliant but confused son of Hannah, hating himself and blaming her for his father's death, a mysterious event which might have been a suicide.
As Hannah becomes more convinced her gospel discovery is genuine, Thomas becomes more confident in himself...primarily because he is strongly attracted to Brandt.
But Brandt, wary that he is being manipulated by Hannah in order to encourage his affection for Thomas (so Thomas will stop blaming his mother for his father's death), begins to fear he is being drawn into a family rife with many hidden agendas writhing in secret like a pit of deadly vipers.
There might be other ploys afoot in this play, as well. You can decide.
Keith Bunin the playwright never slips into soap opera sentiments. He polished these confrontations to a literary sheen, determined to eliminate any element of salacious dialogue.
We the audience sitting in awe of such lofty combat can't help but begin looking at our own faith, remembering when families went to church every Sunday together. When the kids feeling restless in those wooden pews always had their mothers and fathers along.
Remembering there actually was a time when people said without hesitation that they believed in God and Jesus – and you believed them. A time when you never gave anyone a phone call on Sunday morning because you knew they would be at church.
If you believe in the importance of that life and those memories, give your time to “The Busy World Is Hushed.” The performances of these three actors are genuine. Their emotions run deep. Believing that such a life can exist is important for everyone.
“The Busy World Is Hushed” runs through Nov. 11 with performances at 7:30 p.m. various evenings Wednesdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. matinees Saturdays and Sundays, always at Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave. at Drachman St.
Tickets are $35, with discounts available. For details and reservations, 520-882-9721, or invisibletheatre.com
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