BLT’s ‘The Lifespan of a Fact’ examines truth and consequences
Theater audiences expect to be lied to. That suspension of disbelief is part of the magic of settling into a chair and watching grown-ups playing make-believe on stage. Readers of journalism expect to be told the truth.
Depicting the tension between those two expectations provides a great deal of the enjoyment of Butler Little Theatre’s production of “The Lifespan of a Fact.”
The show is an adaptation of the 2012 book of the same name that details the seven-year fact-checking process that took place between the publication of John D’Agata’s essay about suicide in Las Vegas and the publication of the book based on that essay. The documentation of that process and the resulting play, which premiered on Broadway in 2018, quickly moves beyond an argument between writer and fact-checker and becomes a meditation on truth and the ethics of representation.
Heady stuff for an audience seeking a leisurely night out. Luckily, BLT’s production runs a trim 90 minutes without an intermission and boils down that drawn-out process to five taut days.
The majority of the show takes place in D’Agata’s Las Vegas living room, and the set utilizes mounted screens on either side of the stage to bring to life the character’s emails and text messages. This approach is a clever way to capture the way people talk today: spoken conversations mixed with the use of technology.
The lighting is effective, especially as the spot tightens around the actors as they try to determine if the essay should move forward with publication. There’s also an amusing 1980s movie-style montage of writing and fact-checking to enliven what could have been a dull depiction.
The lighting is simple. The set is plain. The script is intellectual and clever. The show runs without an intermission. For all these reasons, the success of the show sits squarely on the shoulders of the actors.
Director Phil Ball employs a naturalistic approach to allow the actors to embrace the back and forth of conversation and the comings and goings of disagreement. Every eye is upon them, without distraction, during the run of the show.
Fortunately, the cast embraces the challenge.
Joe Szalinzki, in his first show for BLT, portrays the Harvard graduate intern fact-checker Jim Fingal with a slope-shouldered commitment to truth in journalism, going so far as to check moon charts and traffic diagrams.
Stefan Altomari brings to life John D’Agata as a self-important essayist who preens, curses and shouts in his attempt to not let the truth get in the way of a good story. Altomari’s depiction of a man willing to resort to physical violence to preserve his perception of the truth of the story vibrates on stage.
After a two-decades-long break from BLT, Laura Crago returns to take on the role of Emily Penrose, the editor who instigates the action by bringing together Fingal and D’Agata.
Crago plays Penrose with palpable tension effectively depicting the forces, economic and ethical, that are pulling the editor apart. Crago’s depiction of Penrose as a fully developed character in her own right rather than as a source of romance is a refreshing change from the sort of roles to which female actors often find themselves relegated.
For all its exploration of the friction between what is represented and what is true and the satire of a post-truth age, the show ends in ambiguity. Does truth even matter, “The Lifespan of a Fact” asks.
As the audience shrugs on coats and heads to the exit, they take with them the unsettling idea that their willingness, even their desire, to be lied to indicts them as well.
“The Lifespan of a Fact” contains strong language and discussions of suicide. Tickets are $15 at butlerlittletheatre.com. Performances run March 3 to 5 and March 7 to 11. Curtain times are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. Sunday; and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday.
