When a couple headed to their cabin in the Poconos hits the title character of Aaron Mark’s Deer with their car, the ensuing dispute about what to do with the animal exposes fissures in their 30-year marriage that will turn violent.
The play is often funny, with Theatre Three’s production getting everything right. Under the direction of Christie Vela, Shannon J. McGrann and Chad Cline give grounded performances as Cynthia and Ken, making their characters’ descent as believable as possible.
Ken calls the accident a suicide attempt and the very definition of roadkill. But Cynthia insists on taking the apparently dead deer with them. She’s about to lose her mind as the depths of Ken’s narcissism spill out like the deer’s blood. Jeffrey Schmidt’s scenic design in Theatre Three’s small basement black box sets the stage for the mayhem to come.
A red leather couch doubles as the car’s front seat and the cabin’s living room couch. This is where Cynthia will try to nurse the deer back to life, propping it up on pillows and then crawling beneath it. The physical comedy of Deer is half its appeal — alongside the snappy dialogue.
News Roundups
Chad Cline and Shannon J. McGrann make their characters’ descent as believable as possible in Theatre Three’s production of Aaron Mark’s “Deer.”
Jeffrey Schmidt
Ken’s a self-involved novelist. Cynthia’s never liked his work. Having given up on bigger dreams, she teaches school to support the family. When she reads his latest at the cabin, she says she loves it, perhaps wishful thinking as its success could alter her miserable situation.
Bad marriages like this usually end in divorce or the couples simply endure or overlook their differences. Every once in a while, they get as ugly as Deer and grab headlines.
But seemingly regular folks comically slipping into madness when they realize they’ve been living a lie is a trope that Deer, even after the title character starts talking, never transcends. It’s a piece of light, diverting entertainment we’ve seen before and will soon forget.
Details
Through Feb. 22 at 2688 Laclede St. $37-$40. theatre3dallas.com.
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