Despite the darkness surrounding the three main characters of Annie Baker’s newest play, The Aliens, the show sustains a playful levity throughout much of its less than two hour runtime. Under Sam Gold’s direction, The Aliens is most alive when the two leads, a couple of thirty-something male vagabonds, and a seventeen-year-old restaurant employee about to do a stint as a counselor in training at a Jewish band camp, are seen struggling to negotiate their relationships.
This happens most explicitly at the end of the play’s first act when Evan (Dane Dehaan), a rising high school senior, joins his older, hippy-slacker new friends at a makeshift July 4th literary salon on a picnic bench behind the Vermont restaurant where he works. Scruffily bearded Jasper (Erin Gann), recently heartbroken, reads aloud from a Bukowski-inspired novel in which his protagonist fondly, if not narcissistically, recalls his girlfriend proclaiming him a genius. When Jasper finishes reading, his best friend KJ (Michael Chernus) dances in celebration before hugging Jasper ebulliently. “Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck. Oh my god,” says KJ, praising his friend. “That was really cool,” says Evan sincerely. “That was really really cool.”
Jasper’s novel—a road story written in patches of purple prose—is not good, but we want it to be, just as KJ does. The scene works so well because these men are banding together against the dismal situations of their lives. It is touching to see them fulfill one another’s emotional needs. KJ needs to believe that Jasper is a great novelist, and Jasper needs KJ to believe it. It is a privilege to witness this odd friendship unfold before our eyes.
The scene’s intensity grows when Jasper won’t let KJ drink from Evan’s stolen bottle of peppermint schnapps and we learn that KJ has an alcohol problem. “This is so fucking pointless,” shouts KJ. “I could march over to the liquor store and buy whatever I want. I’m thirty fucking years old!” This conflict is compelling—there is a dangerous rift between the close friends. The fear is that they might not be able to save one another.
When the play takes a surprising turn in the second act, however, the drama seems to lose its way. While still compelling, the characters make a bit less sense in the play’s second half, and we have less reason to care about them.
Nonetheless, all three performances are superb. Most notably Michael Chernus as KJ captures just the right combination of innocence, wide-eyed enthusiasm and desperate sadness.
And one more thing is clear: Annie Baker writes lovely characters and lovely scenes. There are plenty of both in The Aliens. Watching these three take care of one another is gratifying. Baker finds subtle drama amongst unusual people, in surprising places and situations, where most of us wouldn’t think to look.
Written by Annie Baker and directed by Sam Gold, The Aliens is at the Rattlestick Theater from April 14th until May 23rd.
