Clay Versus the Volcano

An Impending Rupture of the Belly

by Mark Cofta

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Matt Pelfrey's savage title — An Impending Rupture of the Belly — suggests a tearing from within, an explosion of toxic forces. And I'm not just flashing back to my appendix bursting. Flashpoint Theatre Co.'s local première delivers the title's promise with a good-intentions-gone-bad tale of suburban paranoia.

Clay, office drone trapped in "the mortgage gulag," feels beleaguered from all sides: Buddy Eugene pushes extreme home security ("You've got to be combat-ready"), pregnant wife Terri makes strident manhood-shrinking demands, red-faced loser brother Roy demands rescue again (he's been booted from KISS cover band Scrotus). A small provocation proves the tipping point: Neighbor Doug's dog keeps shitting on Clay's lawn.

While the play requires many suggested settings, accomplished with brisk furniture moves, Christian Pedone's set shows an idyllic suburban backdrop: handsomely bland house, white picket fence, pretty sunset view — in other words, the dream Clay's protecting.

When Eugene suggests a "Shock and Awe, Bush-style" response to Doug's incursions, Pelfrey's larger intentions emerge: Hapless Clay is us, plunging into a mistaken conflict exacerbated by fear, lies and goading from all sides. Sound familiar? The twists that turn Clay into a brute who sees war as a state of mind, as a way of navigating the world, eerily echo the past eight years and another hapless central character, even as his story builds convincingly to the title's promised rupture.

Michael Osinski's driven production wisely resists emphasizing the metaphor and is grounded admirably by Jared Nelson's intense performance as the unraveling Clay, Rob Neddoff's funny-yet-creepy drunken brother, Chris Fluck's multifaceted bully, Nathaniel Robertson's loutish loudmouth and Frances Calter's surprisingly complex Terri. Can they function as metaphors and genuine characters? You betcha.

(m_cofta@citypaper.net)

An Impending Rupture of the Belly | Through Nov. 22, Flashpoint Theatre Co., Second Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 215-665-9720, flashpointtheatre.org