A recent double bill at the Common Basis Theatre pairing LeRoi Jones's Obie Award-winning Dutchman with Mark Borkowski's Don't Listen To What It Sounds Like was interesting as a study in opposites.
In Jones's Dutchman a chance seduction of a black man by a white woman on a crowded subway car in 1964 New York turns to anger and then murderous rage. The play may have shocked audiences once, but under Marcia Haufrecht's surprisingly indifferent direction, CBT's production revealed it to be a rather pedestrian, manufactured and tedious tirade that hasn't aged all that well. The points that Jones makes are still sadly relevant, but the methods used are shrill and dated, especially as performed by the hard-working but obviously overwhelmed James Davis and Angela La Flamme.
In marked contrast, Borkowski's Don't Listen To What It Sounds Like sparkled with the rich intensity of his beautifully written, directed, and performed language. As two former inmates of a mental hospital adjusting to life on the outside, Eric Chase (an amazing last-minute substitute) and Kristen Smith were riveting, finding and exploiting every nuance in Borkowski's brief but haunting work with exquisite subtlety and detail.
Production values were simple and direct, with Chase supplying lighting effects in Dutchman that gave the convincing illusion of a moving subway car. Sets and costumes were uncredited.
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