Dear diary: My 'hot' date left me cold

Oct. 24--As comic premises go, the idea that an unsuspecting someone could be dating Satan himself has potential. Some of us feel like we once had that pleasure. Or maybe it was just one of his numerous spawn.

In the case of "Say You Love Satan," the latest from About Face Theatre, a young and attractive version of the Prince of Darkness is hanging out shirtless in a gay-friendly laundromat in Baltimore, as the Prince of Darkness is wont to do. There, devilish "Jack" (Jonathan Pereira) attracts the attentions of a mild-mannered, 25-year-old graduate student named Andrew (Joshua Rollins), who finds himself distracted from his Dostoevsky.

Jack/Satan seems to have it all--cool loft, a way with doormen at the hot clubs, the entire "Omen" series on DVD. "Nothing on him jiggles," a breathless Andrew later reports to his best friend Bernadette (Elizabeth Ledo, stuck in a stereotype). And before you know it, our hero has dumped his very sweet boyfriend (played by Benjamin Sprunger) in favor of a sun-resistant guy who suddenly develops a limp at dawn.

And it's at about this point that this totally preposterous new play by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa starts to get seriously irritating. Obviously, this is a bit of Halloween camp themed around contemporary relationships--it's not intended to be a deep dramatic dissection of the mores of gay life in urban Baltimore, nor should it be judged as such.

But it's a bit of Halloween camp charging as much as $45 a ticket--and it comes with heaps of Dostoevsky quotes and all manner of other pseudo-intellectual pretensions.

Staged in the old Victory Gardens space (my, how that place has suddenly changed), it also is the work of a young Yale-trained playwright about whom there is much buzz in New York. This affair offers no evidence for the enthusiasm.

You'd think this kind of comedy was a good chance to satirically explore why so many people prefer to date flashy devils--and cruelly spurn those boring puppy dogs who love us completely and unselfishly. Be they gay or straight, anyone in the dating trenches knows the phenomena--from one side or the other. There are some hints of such a discussion, but this play is ultimately too in love with its own cleverness to have much useful--or funny--to say.

Instead, Aguirre-Sacasa offers a potpourri of cliched characters, self-referential smarts, hackneyed pop culture references and a plot that drowns in its own inconsistent rules. Tension is briefly introduced when Andrew is unsure if "Jack" is Satan or the Son of Satan (like there's a meaningful difference), but that's about as tense as the thing gets. Incredibly, there is no scene where Andrew feels moved to ask Satan--like, what are you doing, exactly, Mr. Satan, and why am I doing it with you?

Scott Ferguson's production mostly adds to the problems. Despite a flashy set and clubby soundtrack, the show can't ever decide how campy to be.

Bereft of stylistic consistency, it lurches from semicredible to Austin Powers silliness and back, often in the same scene. Ledo does her considerable best in a thankless role and Sprunger has his moments, but little is truthful enough to be funny.

Worse yet, the lead character (who should be our way into the play), manages to be unsympathetic.

As played by the uneasy Rollins, the guy is so whiny, invulnerable and unlikable, you're more than ready to abandon him to the devil.

"Say You Love Satan"

When: Through Nov. 19

Where: Victory Gardens Greenhouse, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.

Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes Tickets: $20-$45 at 773-871-3000

cjones5@tribune.com

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