The black comic farce gets an overhaul (and I mean overhaul) in Nicky Silver's newest opus The Altruists, a tirelessly energetic but strangely unaffecting tale of a group of New York City residents who enter each other's lives through the aid of family relations, lovers and a dead body. Played with broad conviction by a first-rate group, Silver's writing is certainly admirable, especially in creating a rapid-fire discourse that doesn't grow too wearying. Clever as the play sometimes is, though, it has the feeling of being rushed.
Set in the world of downtown activism, a pastime of Swallow (Sam Robards), a boozing womanizer, and his lover Cybil (Kali Rocha), a lesbian who can't seem to resist men. They are at their most animated when planning the next demonstration, even though they barely seem aware of the issues they are speaking out for or against. Sydney (the vivacious Veanne Cox) is a high-strung soap actress, also a girlfriend of Swallow, who is sister to Ronald (Joey Slotnick), a lonely gay man who sleeps with a drug-addled young hustler (Eddie Cahill), without knowing he has to pay for the privilege, but falls for the young stud and begins to persuade him to stay with him forever. A comedy of errors ensues, when Sydney commits a murder in a bizarre rage and must look to the other characters for assistance. Running only ninety minutes, the play doesn't waste its time exploring the greater underside of activism and the hypocrisy it can bring, which is both a blessing and a deterrent. One wishes Silver fully got to the core of his character’s blindness to their own vanity and insecurity, making it hard to relate to them on a personal level. Maybe this is the point, but a black comedy needs a bit more meat to warrant its dark side, something this play misses. It doesn't seem to reveal its true nature until late into the proceedings, when we've already seen what we needed to, thus muting the impact of its dark side.
It helps to have a cast like this one. Cox is a riot as the garrulous actress who seems to have OD'd on Joan Crawford movies; she can make even the most tired line of dialogue sing and gets all the show's best exchanges. Slotnick is winning in a slightly caricatured role as the put-upon loner/social worker, and Robards is suitably strapping and charismatic. But the cast's contributions are mostly for naught. They make the affair brisk and entertaining, but basically there isn't anything here you haven't seen before.
