Coal Mine Theatre / A Case for the Existence of God, written by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Ted Dykstra, Coal Mine Theatre, closes Dec. 1. Tickets here.
I defy anyone not to be profoundly moved by Samuel D. Hunter’s 2022 play, A Case for the Existence of God. Under artistic director Ted Dykstra, Coal Mine has mounted a poignant production that touches the soul.
The Play
In this multi-award-winning two-hander, Hunter portrays a platonic friendship between two unlikely men.
Keith (Mazin Elsadig) is a college-educated mortgage broker who happens to be gay and Black. Ryan (Noah Reid) is a working-class White dude who has a job at a yoghurt factory. Keith comes from privilege. His father is a lawyer, and the family has travelled the world. Ryan is the son of a broken home whose parents are drug addicts.
A third unseen character is Twin Falls, Idaho, where the play is set, a city in that thinly populated red state in the American northwest.
The prolific Hunter, who lives in New York, and is gay himself, was born in Moscow, Idaho, so he knows of whom he speaks. He has been called The Bard of Idaho because so many of his plays are set there. You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy. This would be a different play in a different place.
Keith and Ryan meet at a daycare centre when they pick up their toddler daughters, Willa and Krista, respectively. Keith and Willa are in a foster-to-adopt situation, while Ryan is going through a divorce and is fighting for his share of custody. Ryan makes an appointment with Keith because he wants to get a loan to buy land that once belonged to his family in order to create a legacy for Krista.
Hunter has built in laughter in this, oh so very melancholy play, particularly around Ryan. For example, his not understanding what a mortgage broker is, or his having trouble with Keith’s vocabulary with words like harrowing or tacitly. It’s Ryan who gets the laughs throughout the conversations.
The men strike a bond, however, when their personal stories begin to be revealed, and Ryan touches the cord when he tells Keith that he thinks they share a certain kind of sadness.
And yes, this play is heart-breaking. Make no mistake about that. The friendship grows deeper as their fortunes decline, and central to that personal tragedy for each man is their love for their daughters. This is also a story about two men who cherish their daughters with every fibre of their being.
The play jumps from scene to scene without any indicators. Suddenly we are aware from the conversation that time has passed. At first this is unsettling, but it also works like a jolt to the audience that attention must be paid, that a friendship is forming and strengthening, that we’re not in Keith’s office anymore, but watching TV at Keith’s house — and without the actors ever leaving their chairs.
It’s what I would call concentrated theatre with no time wasted on scene changes.
The Actors
The two actors are absolutely wonderful, and under Dykstra’s careful direction, draw out characters that are multi-layered. Over the course of the play, Keith and Ryan become fully formed, recognizable people. The chemistry between the actors is palpable.
Elsadig’s Keith is sharp, defensive, and a bit pompous. He is a tightly coiled spring on the lookout for any offense, but then, he was one of only a handful of Blacks in Twin Falls, and queer to boot. He reminds Ryan that they were in the same class in high school, but Ryan has no recollection of him. Keith was Black, but invisible. He is also very emotional, and what he is feeling bubbles to the surface. He wears his heart on his sleeve.
Reid’s Ryan is a performance for the ages, so natural, so realistic is his portrayal. He had a tough life growing up, but he overcame it. He was a popular high school football hero, but went to work after graduating. His ex-wife appears to have outgrown him, getting a university degree. Reid plays Ryan as a down to earth, easy-going, good-hearted guy, a salt of the earth type. His Achilles’ heel is how to cope when things go south.
In other words, when their lives are falling apart, Keith becomes a nervous wreck, while Ryan falls into a state of desperation.
I repeat, this is not a happy play.
The Set
You know designer Nick Blais’ attractive set is somewhere in the west, because of the wood finishes, and the big vista windows. It’s a spacious office, very realistic in appearance, and not some little cubicle somewhere.
But then, how many mortgage brokers are there in Twin Falls? At times, Blais’ clever lighting reduces the size of the set by zeroing in on the actors, making their space very confined and almost claustrophobic.
The case for God?
Finally, just where does God fit in? The play is, after all, enigmatically called A Case for the Existence of God. If God is associated with miracles, is it a miracle that these two men found each other, and were able to give comfort in times of distress? That is just one take on it.
Another could be hope, and the prayer that things will turn out well.
Whatever you take away from the play, Coal Mine Theatre has come up with another triumphant production to add to its already glittering reputation for provocative and substantive theatre.
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