Blair Moro’s script is a staged lecture about cults, the tactics of their leaders and the abuses visited upon their members. Mostly what I got from it is some horrific imagery that I can’t do anything with and that will stay lodged in me for a long time.
Moro notes similarities between these cults — from Uganda to Québec — and the MAGA movement, including the use of threats, the refusal of outside information, and deference to a charismatic leader. Okay, but identifying MAGA as a cult, which this script doesn’t explicitly do, would be an oversimplification. MAGA also enables opportunism and the release of dark impulses, so there’s more to the movement than manipulation and imposition.
But the basic question about CULTS is “Why present this information in the theatre?” It’s a firehose of facts with only occasional nods to theatricality.
Solo performer Hilary Fillier, who is new to this text — mostly, it has been performed by Moro — had to call for her lines several times during the performance I attended, but she always continued with confidence and vivacity, which I admired.
In my opinion, an actor losing her lines sometimes isn’t the primary thing to focus on there, it’s the theatricality — or lack of it.
Remaining performances: September 13 (8:40 p.m.), 15 (5:00 p.m.), 18 (8:05 p.m.), and 20 (5:15 p.m.) Tickets and information.
PHOTO CREDIT: (Photo of Hilary Fillier by Blair Moro)
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