The E Word

The E Word

The Off Center, through May 23

Running time: 2 hr, 25 min

The "F" word, the "N" word, the "L" word. There are plenty of words that we're not supposed to say. They're taboo, but I can write the word "fuck" in this paragraph and get away with it. Subjects are taboo when people take offense, get defensive, or can't handle discussing something. So who can't deal with the big bad "E," evolution?

Sharon Sparlin's new play, The E Word: A Playground Adaptation, lives in a playground world where the three kindergarten students dance all around it. Considering how childish the debate over evolution can get, having 5-year-olds bicker about the subject isn't the worst idea I've ever heard. An argument will only be solved if the two opposing sides are willing to listen to each other and concede defeat, tasks at which neither children nor flying spaghetti monsters succeed.

Writer/director Sparlin doesn't set out to draw the line in the sand; she's looking to erase it. She casts the science side as question-loving, while the creationist side finds comfort in safety and security. The three actors shift from naive schoolchildren to manipulators of finch puppets to impersonating Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley, and Emma Darwin to try to tackle all levels of the debate.

Theatrically, at least, The E Word embraces the changes of the 21st century: There's constantly morphing videography, funky drumbeats dropping between scenes, and a digitally scrambled voice à la the teacher from the Peanuts cartoons. Sparlin's direction and choreography keeps the stage picture constantly shifting and always dynamic as it moves from one piece to the next.

The E Word consists of vignettes ranging from song to story to video to monologue, plus everything in between. The sketches have very pointed transitions: One is over; another begins. So the evolutionary issue comes together in piecemeal fashion, but it never feels like we get any closer to an answer. Having a two-minute dance choreographed in sync to bouncing balls is cool (and very well done), and three-part harmonies are always beautiful, but after so many pieces, how does the next one contribute? What does it add to this mosaic of a play?

The E Word play tackles its subject in abstract metaphors yet presents it through the lens of child narrators. In theory, this takes heady discussion and pulls it down to the heart of the matter, but in practice, The E Word talks all around its subject without taking aim at it directly. So many moments are visually captivating but don't forward any plot, argument, or idea. That's part of the point. The "E" word cannot be said or discussed, so the children-cum-actors must dance around their subject, trying to get in.

So who is The E Word taboo for? How many people in the primarily adult audience I saw it with hadn't made up their minds about whether they believed in evolution or not? Or believed in God or not? Aside from one balloon penis joke, The E Word, by and large, avoids adult language and humor. And ultimately children's humor, whether acted by talented adults or silly kids, is more for children than adults. I wonder if that's where the true audience for this show lies, with people still un- or misinformed, still impressionable and questioning, who will be truly opened by Sparlin's dynamic search for a way to remove the line in the sand.