| IF YOU GO |
| “Mojo” |
| Where: 2nd Stage, Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW |
| When: 8:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Sunday; no performance Dec. 25 |
| Info: $30 to $35; 202-332-3300; studiotheatre.org |
“Mojo,” by British playwright Jez Butterworth, is a masterfully constructed, verbally explosive vision of the underground rock ‘n’ roll scene in London in the late 1950s. The “Mojo” currently playing at Studio Theatre’s 2nd Stage is a cleverly staged version of Butterworth’s work, offering a searing view of six losers who love the seamier side of life. The play begins upstairs at Ezra’s Atlantic, a rock club in Soho in 1958. Rock ‘n’ roll is outrageously popular and Ezra, the owner of the club, has a sure thing in Silver Johnny (Logan DalBello), a silver-suited heart-throb of whom audiences can’t get enough.
The first scene of the play is a brief appearance by Silver Johnny before going onstage. As he twitches and warms up for his show, hearing the excitement of the audience that awaits him, DalBello sets the tone for a play that is all strung-out, nervous energy.
That energy is reflected in every aspect of the play, but nowhere more than in its language, a thick Cockney slang that’s delivered with a crackling intensity. Some of that energy is to be expected, a natural byproduct from six hyperactive hoods who delight in being coarse. Much of the energy is pharmaceutically inspired.
There is a plot of sorts that is gradually revealed by the verbal fireworks of “Mojo.” Two employees of Ezra’s, Potts (Danny Gavigan), and his sidekick, Sweets (Matt Dewberry), are hoping to get rich from Silver Johnny’s future, which is being discussed by Ezra’s assistant manager, Mickey (Scot McKenzie) and a local gangster. Soon they are joined by Ezra’s vicious son, Baby (Daniel Eichner), and the hapless Skinny (Dylan Myers).
When Silver Johnny disappears and Ezra turns up murdered, it is left to these deadbeats to figure out what happened. Although there is significant dark comedy in “Mojo,” there is a suggestion of real violence that hovers throughout, lurking right beneath the surface humor and lighthearted banter.
Director Christopher Gallu has found the right verbal and physical style to match Butterworth’s voice. He takes six talented actors and turns them into a tight, well-balanced ensemble. Gavigan is powerful as the cool and collected Potts, a ring-leader of sorts and a friend to Sweets, portrayed by Dewberry as a bumbling, pill-popping hanger-on.
McKenzie plays Mickey convincingly: a tough, unsentimental boss, he continually intervenes to keep the peace among the others. Skinny is portrayed well by Myers as a sad, defenseless mope, constantly running to Mickey for protection. But the character who galvanizes all the others into action is Baby, brilliantly played by Eichner as a hard, aloof young man whose taste for cruelty forces the play to its surprise ending.
The action of “Mojo” swirls around the small 2nd Stage playing area, using every inch of Luciana Stecconi’s effective set: Act I takes place upstairs at Ezra’s and includes mismatched pieces of worn furniture — a table, desk and period jukebox; Act II takes place downstairs, where there is a bar and small tables scattered around the room. With audience members sitting on all four sides of the stage, Gallu transforms “Mojo” into a verbal and physical boxing match, with fight/dance choreography by Joe Isenberg.
Although the characters and language of “Mojo” are blunt, Butterworth creates a play that is oddly nuanced. In reflecting the characters’ adrenalin highs, their anxieties and fears, their awkwardly expressed concern for each other, he creates a space in which greed and selfishness become petty offenses when compared to the potential for true evil that exists on the other side of the room.
