Cast brings life to ‘Human Remains’
By Liza Hoitmeitcr
Senior staff writer
It’s an ode to love in all its many
forms.
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln’s production of “Unidentified
Human Remains and the True Nature
of Love” explores love’s overwhelm
ing grip on our lives in both its pres
ence and its absence.
The play, produced by the
Department of Theatre Arts and
Dance, opened last Thursday and con
tinues tomorrow through Saturday.
The cast, one of the most well
rounded of the season, gave the play an
alluring frankness, bringing the poor
souls to life despite the gaps and con
tradictions inherent in the script.
In the play, David and Candy are
two roommates struggling to fill the
voids in their lives. Desperate for love,
Candy latches onto anyone who comes
along, while David tries to drown his
pain in sex with strangers.
As the two lose themselves in a
series of destructive relationships, the
audience sees their true emptiness and
loneliness develop.
■
Candy gets involved with a lesbian
and a married man, while David tries
to work out his feelings for his best
friend Bemie and his young co-worker
Kane.
In the background, a serial killer
ravages the city, sexually torturing and
killing young girls.
The play is carried by a snappy,
hardy energy, exuded best by Amy
Jirsa in the role of Benita.
As the psychic, fun-loving domi
natrix, Jirsa filled the play with a boun
cy frankness. Her jovial delivery of
morbid horror tales contrastedher can
did talk of sadomasochism, making
her the one character who really saw
and understood all.
Jude Hickey played the sex
charged but self-possessed David,
serving as a foil to Candy and her emo
tional turmoil.
Hickey showed off his character’s
outrageously blunt sense of humor
well, using it to mask David’s inner
confusion and conflict until the end of
the play. At that point, Hickey gave a
shatteringly clear expression of
David’s true feelings, bringing the play
to a fitting and subtle end.
Eric Moyer’s Bemie provided a
smirky contrast to Hickey’s David.
Moyer skillfully developed his charac
ter beyond the mere reckless drinker
and philanderer the audience first sees.
The script leaves some gaps as to the
true nature of Bernie’s feelings for
David, but Moyer fleshed these out as
best he could through his physical
interaction with Hickey.
Courtney Shaw played Candy, the
self-loathing bulimic. Shaw was able
to handle the smart sassiness Candy
struggles to emanate, but her best
moment was in the second act
Here, Shaw depicted her charac
ter’s complete self-revulsion after
Candy’s binge session. Standing in the
middle of the stage, sweat pants cov
ered in crumbs, Shaw cried out “Do
you think I’m fat?” The extent of her
self-hatred and obsession during this
moment was heart-breaking.
Jacob Terrell played the wide-eyed
Kane, David’s star-struck companion.
Terrell’s innocent delivery and con
fused expressions brought relief and a
refreshing naivete to the show.
All of the characters handled the
serial killer subplot well, giving it a
legitimacy not to be found in the script.
Without knowing the playwright’s
intent to have the serial killer represent
AIDS, this subplot can seem over dra
matic and unnecessary.
This is complicated by the poorly
developed reasons for the killer’s
actions. The killer’s con
fusion with his sexu
ality and disillu
sionment with his
life lack the
urgency needed to
justify his psy
chotic reaction.
Overall, the play
was staged very well,
giving ample space and
prominence to each
scene. However, during the
climax, the audience on the
left side of the theater couldn’t
see either character’s face. The
characters maintained the ^
same stance for most of their ^
dialogue, leaving part of the
audience without the facial A
reactions of this crucial
scene.
The cast also
adeptly handled the
play’s explicit Jk
sexual content, ’a
choosing to cut ^
out all of the
nudity.
Love
scenes
and dis
plays of
violence
were honestly
portrayed and ten
sion was punctured by
moments of comedy and sadness.
MattHaney/DN
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