New play expores Adam and Eve (with a gay twist)
If you suddenly found yourself naked in a garden of delights, with nobody to tell you what was right and what was wrong, what would you do when a hunky guy showed up out of the blue with seduction on his mind? Of course, you’d sleep with him; but after the lovin’, what happens to your relationship with Eve? And why isn’t the thundering voice of God there to teach you right from wrong?
That’s the moral dilemma, and the premise, of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Delights, or Love a wicked new comedy from playwright Alejandro de la Costa currently in its world premiere run through June 14.
Over the edge
If you’ve been tempted to attend by the play’s provocative premise, note that this "religiously incorrect retelling of what happened in the Garden of Eden" is "for mature audiences only due to sexual situations, general misbehavior, and nudity." If you were waffling on attending, that should put you over the edge.
Edge recently spoke with the play’s director, Mark-Brian Sonna-who also serves as Artistic Director of NBS Productions.
Sonna says the play’s irreverent take on the Adam & Eve story comes from the unique question it poses: "If God were silent, what would Adam and Eve think about them being in the Garden of Eden with all their needs being met? How would these people get along?"
The answer is, with great difficulty. With God making no appearance in the play, and offering no moral compass, temptation comes to the Garden hard and fast in the form of a snake who appears in the form of a highly desirable man who sets out to seduce both Adam and Eve-who both give in to temptation and have their way with the snake/hunk.
The resulting emotional and moral fallout comes from the fact that "These people don’t know what is right and wrong, what to do and not do; nobody has told them thou shall not do this."
The serpent, it’s important to note, seduces Eve with the apple after we know that Adam and Eve have consummated their relationship. This sets in motion prickly human dynamics of loyalty and jealousy.
Sonna: "The play explores, in a very comedic way, how these two develop a moral code to live by." Formulating that code gets even tougher when the snake has his way with Adam as well-letting the audience see "The perspective of the woman’s viewpoint about the man cheating vs. the man’s viewpoint of the woman cheating him; it defines the sex roles between men and women."
