‘Ideation’ is complex, convoluted, not-so-funny satire – Marinscope Community Newspapers

I cant have a single conversation these days without what Messr. Trump has decreed or done in the last 12 minutes intruding.

Similarly, I can no longer see a topical play without shuddering because I keep picturing his apparent belief that all journalists except those who toil for Fox should be drawn and quartered.

Consider Ideation, a Marin Onstage production directed by Queenelle Minet at the Belrose Theatre in San Rafael.

Its a creepy serio-comedy that builds to a crescendo of, well, ambiguity.

Minet, in the program, says she likes the plays unique ability to make us laugh and feel horrified at the same time.

Unfortunately, the laughs are rare.

Ideation readily plays into all my night terrors, especially with germ warfare being about the only apocalyptic item not on Trumps wish list.

Sandeep, a Harvard-educated engineer from India competently portrayed by Heren Patel, wonders if the mysterious, secretive Senna Project he and his think-tank colleagues are working on is really a plan to kill brown guys named Mohammed, foreigners people who look like him.

Is the project meant to save humanity?

The four co-workers start to worry that their backers are involved in a sinister conspiracy.

And as the corporate consultants paranoia grows, they begin to become excessively suspicious of each other.

Ben Ortega as Brock, who futilely strives to be cool and always think logically, provides the funniest moment when hes so overwhelmed with possibilities he stammers.

And stammers. And stammers.

Another amusing interlude occurs when three members of the ensemble cast search hither and yon for electronic bugs, laying waste to anything in their way.

And I grinned when smiley and frowny faces are used to illustrate grim scenarios on the blackboard.

But its impossible not to wince when the dialogue focuses on liquidation facilities and a doomsday virus, or choosing between crematoria, a mass grave or burial by sea (in sinkable shipping containers).

Ted (Len Shaffer), whose southern accent vanishes from time to time, reminds them theyve been asked to save the human race from extinction.

But Brock asks, What are we gonna do with all the bodies?

Upwards of 2 million of them.

Later, however, he tongue-lashes the groups lady boss, Hannah, for being worried about imaginary people in imaginary death camps.

Bringing to the forefront of my mind shades of Nazi Germany.

Interestingly, Marianne Shine, who plays Hannah a tad stiffly, has dedicated her performance to her father, a Holocaust survivor.

The fifth actor, Jeremy Judge, is Scooter, 22-year-old intern squeezed onto the team through nepotism, again reminding me of our peerless leaders penchants.

The entire cast, which needed to memorize and understand an inordinate number of phrases and concepts, deserves at least a B for its efforts.

Playwright Aaron Loeb only merits a C, though for coming up with a laborious peek at mental masturbation, a satire unduly convoluted, complicated and complex.

Loquacious to the nth degree.

Even the title which means a creative process of forming new notions isnt a word Ive ever used in a polite sentence.

Ideation premiered at San Francisco Playhouse a few years back and then moved to off-Broadway.

It lasts only 90 minutes and has no intermission. But its exhausting since it contains about 1,768 thoughts and what seems like 2,958,854 words.

And it still doesnt answer any of the big questions it poses.

Ideation will run at the Belrose Theatre, 1415 5th Ave., San Rafael, through March 4. Night performances, 8 p.m. Fridays and Sundays; matinees, 2 p.m. Saturdays. Tickets: $12 to $24, subject to change. Information: 415-290-1433 or http://www.marinonstage.org

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'Ideation' is complex, convoluted, not-so-funny satire - Marinscope Community Newspapers