Local theater troupe The Midnight Company is staging a production for fans of the absurd—New York playwright Will Eno’s Wakey, Wakey, on stage July 16—August 1 at The Chapel (6238 Alexander).
The play—at one time an introspective monologue that challenges and directly confronts the audience, reminiscent of the classic works of Samuel Beckett, and at another an awkwardly funny conversation—is a heartfelt reflection of life, from the perspective of its end.
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A St. Louis premier, the production stars The Midnight Company founder and artistic director Joe Hanrahan as Guy, a man in hospice care, and Rachel Hanks as Lisa, the hospice visitor taking care of him. The first half of the one-act play consists mainly of a monologue given by Guy from his wheelchair, which Hanrahan says is particularly poignant.
“He is dying. His perspective is skewed towards that,” Hanrahan says. “As he’s leaving the world, he’s trying to get people to wake up to it and look at it. He’s saying, ‘Look at it, look what’s here. Open your eyes and be here.’”
Eno’s word choice is incredibly deliberate, and obviously so. Every sentence of Guy’s monologue is crafted to bite, assuage, or provoke. Powerfully curious questions about the nature of life are woven together with jokes from out of left field, leaving the audience to wonder where they are being taken next.
The introduction of Lisa, the play’s only other character, is a moment that turns the play from a thoughtful prodding of the audience to an impassioned display of human dignity. Lisa, as Eno says, introduces love into the play.
“Lisa highlights how well [Guy] was doing,” Eno says. “But also that he is struggling.”
Eno attributes the themes of the play, published in 2017, to two major events in his life: the death of close friends and the birth of his daughter.
“I was trying to think of both the big questions I had, and the couple things that I felt sure of,” Eno says. “Gratitude, trying to be aware of things, and the celebration of life.”
Despite Guy’s difficulties and the constant reminder of a looming death through a sparsely set stage, Wakey, Wakey’s most impactful moments are those in which it wonders almost wide-eyed at the beauty of life.
“People talk about matters of life and death,” Guy says in the play. “But it’s really just life, isn’t it?”
Eno stands by that.
“We talk and worry a lot about death,” he says. “But really, truly, what we’re talking about is losing people, not being there, losing a connection to someone. But those are things we can address in life.”
Eno believes that much of what is feared in death could be helped with tangible action in life. “I could worry about dying now, or I could ask, What does that mean? It means I’m not going to be able to say something that’s loving or kind or helpful to [my daughter]. So maybe that makes me write it down on a little note and maybe she’ll put it in a book and find it in 20 years.”
Wakey, Wakey’s first-ever St. Louis run should not be missed by any theater lover, says Hanrahan: “It’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.”
Wakey, Wakey runs from July 16—August 1 at The Chapel, 6238 Alexander. Tickets are available via MetroTix.
