←Recommendations of WILDERNESS

Here is a work of raw animal energy. Reminiscent of the sparse dialog of Mamet, Hovanesian, uses words, and the lack of them, to convey a hidden code of what transpired to bring about this awful event, and, more importantly, what the true drives of humans are about. The play cuts through society's bull to create a subtext that is more action than meaning. Even the gods and goddesses in the constellations seem in on the act. It couldn't be set in civilization but must be in the Wilderness.

We are all just animals with evil intentions... Wow, even though I knew what was going to happen because of the structure, I was still scared for what was going to happen. The play is the cup of tea that I needed for tonight, and this tea was satisfying. Truly brilliant dialogue that just creeps me out and leaves me horrified.

Jealousy leads to murder and then insanity, except it all happens in reverse order in this strange and disturbing tale told backwards. When the play opens, one character is dead, the other is unhinged, and we have no idea why. As each scene moves us closer to the beginning we start to piece together details, and our knowledge of where it’s all leading makes it all the more horrifying. This is a dark and delicious play.

The thing I love about Hovanesian’s work is the element of surprise with every play I read and Wilderness does not disappoint. I was caught up in this tale of murder and jealousy till the very end. As humans, we are always patting ourselves on our backs at how far we’ve come through time and space and we try so hard to hide the basic animal we’ve stepped away from but Wilderness brings us back to the reality of how far we have to go before we can actually celebrate our evolution.

Spooky, mysterious, slow, and tense, WILDERNESS strikes a rare balance of sparse dialogue and rich, deep characters. Hovanesian unveils details so meticulously, allowing the reader/audience to dig up piece after piece of the puzzle. I would love to see this play in production.