What starts off promisingly as a suspenseful yarn about a man trapped by some odd psychiatric cult (which seems to resemble Scientology in more ways than comfortable), devolves to two actors yelling at each other about philosophy. Frankly, after all of that, it is impossible to care about anyone, and you’re just hoping that someone finally escapes so that you can too. For the first half of the piece, Jack is hounded by a disembodied voice needling him about filling out a secondary questionnaire, after an initial questionnaire where he ticked the box saying he’s ‘sad’ with his life.The progression over the next twenty minutes of the piece is circular at best, yet slightly compelling. When his initially faceless interrogator finally enters the space, his face contorted into an odd, cultish smile, the devolution of the piece spirals into chaos. Both performers continue to scream at each other, with little focus or intent. The performer playing Jack made the piece at least watchable, shifting from nervous to annoyed to angry very effectively. The nameless character, though, seemed far too concerned with making his fake smile seem as forced as humanly possible, making it a complete distraction. The scenario presented felt like the initial indoctrination period for a new recruit into a brainwashing cult. Had the energy been more focused and the text less circuital, The Questionnaire could have left the audience with more questions for themselves. As it stood, the only quandary I had was what to have for lunch.
