Hunger Warrior Theatre, a group of young American Theatre professionals present this tale of lust and its dangers, written Andrew J Hungerford. It takes the Sumerian myth of Inanna, the goddess of sex, who, having descended to the underworld ruled by her sister Ereshkigal, is killed and has to send someone in her place to ascend back to the world of the living.
The production mixes shadow puppets, telling the ancient myth, and live action, which brings the story up to date, with Anna (Stephanie Brait), now trawling American college bars for her latest squeeze. The story is introduced by narrator and barman, played by Michael Burnham.
On his 21st birthday, Greg the Geek (Kyle Nunn) is having his first drink and is due to meet his friends Mason, the Jock (Jonathan Silver), and the grungy Eric (Kellen York). Mason is determined to take someone home, and Eric is determined that Greg will take someone home. Meet Anna, who, coincidentally, is also looking to take someone home.
The dialogue of the bar scenes is sharp, and the show moves quickly and is lots of fun. Eric, and a pool playing physics grad student, Julia (Emily Matlack), provide the counterpoint to the competition between Mason and Greg for Annas affections. Burnham adds depth and Brait is superby sultry as Anna.
There were a couple of niggles with the shows production. The puppets are a great touch, and are ideal for drawing a distinction between myth and the present day. But the screens structure is flimsy, and it frustratingly goes a bit wrong. I hope that a better solution can be found so that this doesnt detract from future shows. There was also action at the far left of the stage, which was not visible from some seats on the left due to a large pillar. Again, I did wonder if there might be a way of shifting that, or perhaps warning those sitting there that they may miss out.
