Review of "The Ritual Slaughter of George Mastromas"

A dark tale about how a seemingly good man who has done good all his life, shifts when given a unique opportunity to get all he ever has want for and more. As this change occurs we witness the downward spiral of George Mastromas life leaving him with everything except for what he wants most.

"Goodness or cowardice" is the running theme throughout the play where if you didn't hear it the first time, they made sure that it was said about every 15 minutes in triplicate, not to mention the giant header that was brought in from above and remained in clear view for the entire second scene. The problem facing George Mastromas is that he has lived his life always choosing the Goodness route, the route that in the face of things most people take. We hear all about his adolescence through three specific stories told in bullet point fashion at the start of the play by all of the actors seated, recounting these tales in a staccato kind of way. Thankfully the actors are all fascinating to watch otherwise everyone in the theater would have fallen asleep, for this lasts a good 20 minutes. This "bullet point biography", as mentioned, focuses in on three stories about where George takes the path of Goodness rather than that of cowardice, knowing full well that his life will probably be better off if he chooses cowardice.

The Ritual Slaughter of George Mastromas is a morality play at it's heart, showing the audience a man who is easy to relate to, who is at his heart good and honest, but when given the option finally chooses to get what he wants even if it means ruining the life of someone else. The script is darkly comic and occasionally gives way to beautiful lines which are quickly lost to the insentient repeating of the moral: "Goodness and cowardice". This modern day Greek Tragedy even comes with it's own chorus. Guiding us through George's entire biography for 20 minutes at the start of the play would have made a full house (as was the one I was in) fall instantly asleep if it hadn't have been for the charismatic and luminous cast. The chorus even follows up and begins filling in the gaps during scene changes and even once during the scene at a very crucial point. Now I don't mind the chorus insertion into scenes, that's fine, but the point in the scene was such a huge discovery that it was almost tarnished by their immediate interruption and explanation as to what we were seeing. I understand that it did move the play along and it was a unique way to structure a modern play, but in terrible points like that it seemed to cut the actors off.

It was well acted, the sets were beautiful and the lighting was spot on, and there were times where I would close my eyes and listen to some of the lines just to hear them. There are points of brilliant dialogue and heartbreaking discovery for the characters, yet it left me feeling like I had a bucket of morality poured over me then had the bucket banged on my head a few times.