Beauty and obscenity grace the stage

The accidental death of a young son throws his family into a downward spiral of grief in the Glacity Theatre Collective's production of Jenny Schwartz' "God's Ear," directed by Irene Alby.

The intimate theatrical space of Studio A at the Valentine Theatre lent itself to this production quite well, aside from a few brief moments when visibility was compromised.

The cast of this production was excellent, from professional actors Dave DeChristopher and Qarie Marshall to the young daughter of the director, Angelica Alby-Gabara.

"God's Ear" depicts the various -- and sometimes dangerous -- ways in which people try to cope with their own distress.

The show was both heartbreaking and darkly comedic as Schwartz expertly manipulated language to force the audience to think.

Entire conversations were repeated during the play, leaving one with the impression that a great indeterminate amount of time was passing in what seemed mere moments. These characters were finding solace in the mundane.

The use of cell phones in the production made it obvious that Mel, played by Aggie Alt and Ted, played by Marshall, were never actually communicating about anything.

Each character would be talking about one thing, while doing something completely different and all the while no one ever spoke truthfully about anything.

This denial of their grief led these characters down a dark path of escapism involving extramarital affairs and possible hallucinations.

The presence of the Tooth Fairy, played by DeChristopher, and a G.I. Joe, Phillip Taylor, may be physical manifestations of Mel's conscience or perhaps these childish figures were meant to symbolize Mel's feelings about her lost son.

G.I. Joe offered an interesting concept. HHHe was buried in the ground and then escaped. It could be that his life after death embodiment represents Mel's own wish that her son could still be alive.

Whether it was authorial or directorial decisions to have a man play the Tooth Fairy, I do not know, but either way, it was fabulous. DeChristopher played the part perfectly and was both endearing and a bit foreboding.

Nikki Soldner and Ernest Green had amazing stage presence as the dark forces dragging Ted further and further into his own sorrow.

An older woman that was seated in front of me was less than thrilled with Act I. After a hushed exclamation of, "The devil wrote this!" during intermission, she discretely found her way to the door and never came back.

This woman never got to understand the truth and necessity of the "offensive" moments in Act I because she skipped out on Act II.

If there is one thing I've learned, it is that the most crude, obscene and shocking images can be the most powerful and even the most beautiful.

Life is not always happy, politically correct or proper. As art is an expression of the human condition, it cannot ignore ugliness and despair.

Act I shows the very fiber of a family torn apart by death and it isn't until Act II that we begin to truly understand why things in Act I were so extreme.

After the show, I found myself contemplating the title. God is not exactly a focal point of the show and yet the name is in the title.

Despite barely acknowledging the existence of a god, the characters' actions and lines seemed prayers in themselves.

The characters were floundering about trying to distance themselves from the death of their son and, in effect, they were crying out for something bigger than themselves to lift them out of their own sadness.

In the end, it was the voice of a small child that brought an ounce of peace to the room full of chaos and created a spark of hope in both her parents and the audience.

Glacity's production of "God's Ear" is a must see to anyone--not only those involved in theatre, but those who wish to view life from a different perspective.

This weekend will be the last run of "God's Ear." Tickets are available at the Valentine Theatre's online box office, as well as at the door the evening of the show.

Admission is $22 at the door and student rush tickets are available for $5 with a college ID, five minutes before the show begins. Sundays are pay-what-you-can.

Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m.