Well-executed design and sharp performances prop up a script that promises more than it delivers in Quantum Theatre’s newest offering, The Devil is a Lie, a contemporary retelling of Goethe’s Faust.
The latest immersive production, now playing through Sun., April 30, continues Quantum's dedication to site-specific works performed in non-theatrical spaces. Attendees are invited to the Tenant Innovation Center at the Frick Building Downtown, which is fashionably outfitted to host an exclusive celebration for investors in Voltaire, Inc., the fictional tech company founded by wealthy, self-involved businessman George Fast (Sam Turich) and his pregnant wife Margarita (Christine Weber). After some mingling and complimentary cocktails, audience members are encouraged to scan a QR code posted throughout the space to access a polling website through which they will be asked to weigh in on the future of the company and the people associated with it.
Dogg (LaTrea Rembert), the DJ, arrives late and Fast offers a self-congratulatory introduction that leaves Margarita, allegedly the brains behind Voltaire, struggling to get a word in edgewise. Lucy (Lisa Sanaye Dring), Fast’s beleaguered assistant, also fights to make herself heard over the dull roar of Fast’s egomania until she explodes with an impactful announcement: she is an emissary of the Devil, an employee of the ominously named “Firm,” there to collect on a bargain, we’re told, Fast made 24 years ago, wherein he traded his soul for the success of his tech company.
The play, written by Jennifer Chang and directed by Kyle Haden, offers a sustained consideration of the impact or illusion of human choice: Can humans single-handedly damn themselves to Hell with their choices or do we simply select from a set of options prescribed by our place within an exploitative power structure?
The smartphone polls audience members vote in are less choose-your-own-adventure and more of a well-executed gimmick. It becomes clear fairly early on that the audience’s poll participation has little to no impact on the play, nor does anyone learn much about fellow audience members based on the polls’ announced results. However, even if the polls fall flat, that, too, can be seen as a commentary on the alleged futility of human decision.
Unfortunately, none of the human characters appear to seriously wrestle with the choices offered to them. Fast is unrepentant regarding his deal with the Devil, and when attentions turn to Dogg’s soul, he’s largely uninterested in anything the Firm has to offer him. His seemingly unshakeable integrity stymies the stakes of the plot, making much of the dialogue feel like it’s stuck circling the same track. I missed the signposts indicating the plot’s slippery chronology — at times, the dialogue indicates the show is set in 1991, others in 2023 — which foreshadow the play’s most interesting twist.
The show’s performances and design elements do imbue it with some dynamism, however. Turich delivers an engaging rendering of his character, making his eventual reincarnation as an emissary of the Firm a welcome treat. Weber makes for a lovely foil to him, at first demur and later matching his voracious ambition with her own. Dring gives a passionate performance as Lucy, but her fury feels a bit unmoored, grounded in a slightly glib analysis of the world’s ills, which, in my opinion, lays too much at the feet of individual bias. As Dogg, Rembert keeps things adequately rooted in reality as the play’s compelling straight man.
The Frick Building’s Tenant Innovation Center serves as an excellent site for Voltaire’s glamourous investor gathering, outfitted in corporate conference infrastructure by set designer Sasha Schwartz. Smart and subtle costume design by Grzegorz Labuda dresses the characters in rich tones of purple, burgundy, and gray. Eagle-eyed audience members may notice Fast’s socks seem emblazoned with pictures of his own face and Lucy wears a pro-choice pin. Light design by C. Todd Brown and sound design by Howard Patterson effectively accomplish the heavy lifting of infusing the space with a supernatural aura.
The Devil is a Lie. Continues through Sun., April 30. Tenant Innovation Center-Frick Building. 437 Grant St., Downtown. $38-58. quantumtheatre.com/thedevil