Some Devil

For proof that humans are a strange species, drive down a shady backstreet in Richmond on a Saturday night, park in a deserted lot and enter the Central Stage theater. Within this hole-in-the-wall venue is a production of British horror connoisseur Clive Barker's "The History of the Devil," directed by Jeffrey Hoffman. Barker's work, from the 1995 collection "Incarnations," is the story of the judgment of the Devil himself before a jury of audience members who ultimately get to vote on whether he is guilty of evil against mankind or whether he should reenter Heaven. Throughout the trial, the past exploits of the Devil are brought forward as evidence in a history spanning several continents and millennia. The Ragged Wing Ensemble's interpretation of this epic trial was clever and insightful but proved unable to satisfy for three full hours of performance.

Keith Davis played a charming Devil, with an evil smirk and glint in his eye. Davis made chilling eye contact with several onlookers, as if he could see the devil in each person. The cast as a whole was solid, fearless and adept in physicality. Actors Ara Glenn-Johanson and Erin Maxon added life and sparkle whenever appearing on stage in their multiple roles. Every actor took Hoffman's physical direction to the maximum, never half-assing a gesture, scream or even the writhing onstage orgy of the first half.

What detracted from the actors' performances, however, was the decision to include so many foreign accents and dialects. A director must decide whether or not accents are absolutely necessary to the text and in this case, they ended up distracting from the integrity of the play.

Another distraction was the bizarre inclusion of an enormous puppet for the demon Belial. The two actors manning the creature cleverly created an unworldly voice in perfect vocal synchronization, but the puppet that covered them was simply odd. This servant of the Devil was like a giant black slug that had fallen face-first in a pile of sticks. It had a pointed, scaly tail that almost claimed a purse from the front row of the audience in an impassioned turn and was just a little too reminiscent of Ross' Holiday Armadillo costume from "Friends."

It is hard to place a finger on the missing ingredient from this show. It was technically sound and obviously well rehearsed. The actors worked, the performance space worked and the script was born of a fascinating idea. Perhaps the answer is that every single part of the production needed a boost. As for Barker's script, it was lacking in cohesion, like a collection of memorable quotes strung together with flimsy threads.

This play is undoubtedly difficult to tackle, jumping great leaps of time and space from scene to scene. Not denying the right of small companies to produce whatever play they wish, "The History of the Devil" could have been a whole lot more engaging if done by a company with bigger and better resources. The Ragged Wing Ensemble is a group of professional people without a professional budget. The play lagged towards its end, perhaps purposefully so, as one character stated: "We're so close to getting this over and done with." To be frank, this production was a difficult three hours to endure for a non-Clive Barker junkie and provided for more of an esoteric experience than an evening of pleasurable entertainment.