Deadly brings the seven sins to life on stage
Seven actors, seven sins — that’s the idea behind Deadly, the newest all-original production from Cue Zero Theatre Company.
“It’s an original movement piece that takes the classical deadly sins and kind of examines them through a more modern lens, with an interesting twist [that makes them more] accessible and relatable,” Cue Zero founder Dan Pelletier said.
The production was written and is directed by Merrimack native Crystal Rose Welch, and it’s set entirely to music, with no spoken words.
“I think we assume that verbal language is the most important thing [but] people can communicate in other ways,” she said. “I wanted to create theater that felt accessible when words aren’t accessible, for when the feelings are too big.”
Welch said movement theater is a relatively new and misunderstood form; most people think it’s like dance, but it’s not.
“You are crawling and dragging and basically embodying the emotions,” Welch said.
Welch came up with the idea for the play back in 2016, when she was still in college.
“It’s changed and evolved a lot. There’s a whole different soundtrack because copyright is awful,” she laughed.
The way that the seven deadly sins are expressed is pretty different from her original idea too; it began as a production about one person experiencing all of the sins, Welch said.
“I think having just more experience in life and the world [helped it evolve]; since I came up with it I have graduated college, I’ve fallen in love and gotten married … we’ve been through a pandemic,” she said. “[I’ve realized] no one person is experiencing all of the ‘sins,’ and there is no ‘sin’ — that’s just a dirty word to make you feel guilty.”
The way the “sins” are portrayed, then, is designed not to show the “bad” sides of people, but to show the struggles that all humans go through.
Pelletier, for example, is sloth.
”We look at it kind of through the lens of depression, so my character … ends up coming off looking lazy and slothful but you see it’s because of how beat down and exhausted [he] becomes from the challenges of life,” Pelletier said. “The depression to the outside observer looks like sloth but it’s due to this serious mental illness.”
Gluttony is portrayed through alcoholism, and technology plays a big role in lust. But the emotions behind people’s behaviors is the real message.
“Fear [for example] is something we all feel in different ways,” Welch said. “We have a song about what it is like to live with social anxiety, so someone comes to ask for directions [and the character] is freaking out. I wanted to use movement to show a modern version of something that is actually deadly, something that divides us and keeps us away from community and keeps us from feeling our best.”
Pelletier said the soundtrack of modern music adds to the show’s emotional vibe and helps make it “a very exciting, very high-energy piece.” And relying on movement rather than spoken word allows plenty of room for the audience to have their own feelings.
“It tells a story, but we leave some things where people can interpret them in their own way,” he said.
And that’s exactly what Welch is going for.
“I want to help people process emotions and open doors for conversation — this, this is what I feel. That’s how I feel when I’m scrolling through the news and I’m just getting more and more depressed,” she said.
Despite the intense emotions, though, Welch said the production is not doom and gloom.
“I want people to be open to feeling things and not be afraid that this show is going to wreck them for the night,” she said. “You shouldn’t leave this feeling worse. If people are looking for some hope, this show can provide it.”
Deadly
Where: Granite State Arts Academy, 19 Keewaydin Drive No. 4, Salem
When: Friday, March 4, and Saturday, March 5, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 6, at 2 p.m.
Cost: $15, for in-person or livestream
More info: cztheatre.com
Featured Photo: Deadly. Courtesy photo.
