Hell, it’s said, is other people. We Need to Do Something, which debuted at Crashbox this weekend, clarifies that notion. Hell is other people in a single room from which there is no escape.
At least, that’s one hell. There may be a less metaphorical one outside of the bathroom in which one Texan family is trapped.
It seemed like a tornado-related accident, with a tree limb falling through the roof and lodging itself up against the door. The cosmic irony of fleeing to the safest room in the house, only for it to become a prison of sorts, is not lost on any of the quartet. Mother Diane (Emily Green) is trying to keep everyone distracted, while excitable son Bobby (Andrew Solis) burbles excitedly about EF5 tornadoes and sullen daughter Melissa (Kaylynn Yarelle) complains that she’s not been allowed to message her girlfriend Amy (Sadie Okerstrom). But the family has brought a poison of sorts into the room with them, even if only embittered dad Robert (John Gholson) is the only one prepared to admit it. Swigging something unnamed from his giant mug and spitting barbs at Diane, he’s the first one to realize that the world he knew is falling apart, even if he’s the last to realize he can do nothing about it.
Adapted by Max Booth III from his own 2020 novella of the same name, and directed by Sarah Hogestyn for Bottle Alley Theatre Company, We Need to Do Something is a rarity in theatre: a straight-ahead horror play. They’re common on screen – the book was previously adapted in 2021 into a movie – but a rarity on any stage, with the last Broadway scarefest being the short-lived Grey House. Meanwhile, Austin audiences have been waiting for a similar scare on the boards since The Thin Place at the Zach two years ago.
While Hogestyn is prepared to indulge in some gruesomeness and a few special effects, the emphasis here is on the interpersonal drama rather than spectacle. After all, that’s exactly what Booth’s original story establishes, that the family decays rather than violently self-destructs. For this stage adaptation, Hogestyn and set designer Cody Arn correct one of the biggest errors of the 2021 film adaptation: that the bathroom was so large that the family could retreat to their own corners. Here, the already-small stage area of Crashbox is further restricted by having the bathroom be a free-standing box that’s barely a third of the width of the full performance space. The family literally cannot move without treading on each other, and it’s a testament to the cast that they can operate in this tiny, constrained space. Imagine the family of The Seagull trapped in a closet, with no food and sweatbox humidity. Worse, Booth’s script doesn’t provide any relief – just mounted desperation and shared secrets that everyone keeps hidden, even when the point of no return has clearly been left far behind.
We Need to Do Something is not an easy evening at the theatre, nor is the resolution especially cathartic, but it is a perfect fusing of family drama and supernatural horror. Guilt mounts as the party responsible for this nightmare starts to comprehend their liability, but also as everyone in the room realizes their role in the destruction of this not-so-happy home. Gholson and Green give particular weight to their imploding marriage, with the mysteries of his cup and her call history never openly spoken but clearly caustic. Booth’s script dances around the question of whether they’d be better getting everything on the table right now or hold back until they’re out of this quandary. But the uncomfortable understanding for the audience is, whatever is outside, some form of hell awaits. To summon Sartre, there is no exit from behind these closed doors.
Bottle Alley Theatre Company’s We Need to Do Something
Crashbox, 5305 Bolm #12
bottlealleytheatre.com
Through Sept. 7
