The Receptionist

Trinity Rep's production of playwright Adam Bock's dark comedy The Receptionist is well-acted and intriguing, but its twisted storyline fails at delivering a clear enough message.

Beverly Wilkins (Janice Duclos) is a frontline receptionist for the Northeast Office. The name of the agency she works for and what its employees do there are both eerily absent, and so the mystery begins. When Beverly isn't forwarding calls to her boss, Mr. Raymond (Timothy Crowe), or screening calls for Lorraine (Angela Brazil), the Northeast Office's second-in-command, she orders cake and hangs decorations for her boss's upcoming birthday, receives personal phone calls from her husband and daughter, and plays therapist to Lorraine's love life.

A surprise visit from Martin Dart (Timothy John Smith) of the Central Office throws a wrench into Beverly's everyday routine at work. Dart wants to meet with Raymond, who has yet to arrive, so Beverly makes idle chatter, while Lorraine flirts, to help pass the time with the handsome stranger.

The interplay among these three characters is mildly amusing but soon feels like a Saturday Night Live skit that has gone on for too long. Conversation topics range from Dart's young son who likes the taste of paste to Mindy, the Central Office receptionist, who is cursed with an oft-imitated nasal voice. At least the first-half of the 75-minute production is filled with this type of meaningless banner, as well as several instances of awkward silence.

Upon the arrival of Mr. Raymond, the stage atmosphere transforms instantly from mundane and ordinary to ominous and creepy. During the latter half of the play, the audience has at least some idea of what goes on at the Northeast and Central Offices (it involves interrogation and intelligence-gathering techniques), and each character is seen in a completely different light.

The stage set is very office typical --a front desk, lamp, chairs, end table with magazine, which makes the idea of the supposed events that transpire there all the more terrifying. The script, though, doesn't quite succeed at such a Hitchcock-like effort of things being not what they seem. The plot twist is just too out-of-left-field for these office drones to convey effectively.

That being said, Janice Duclos plays the quintessential receptionist--polite, unthreatening, motherly and pleasant. Her stolid delivery as Beverly is both frightening and endearing. Angela Brazil's performance as Lorraine is especially noteworthy because she manages to convince us that someone as pathetic as she is still capable of unspeakable acts. Timothy John Smith plays the swarthy Mr. Dart with remarkable charm and a purposeful lack of emotion, and every haunting line uttered by Timothy Crowe as Mr. Raymond leaves a lasting impression.

"The Receptionist" will undoubtedly spawn endless discussion, whether its audience members are disturbed, annoyed or impressed by the outcome. As a black comedy, the laughs are lacking and the darkness overshadows them in the end.