After the Garden is an hilarious play exploring the “real” story behind Adam and Eve’s banishment from the Garden of Eden. Even if you are not entirely familiar with the story from the Book of Genesis, this show will tickle your funny bone from start to finish. Playwright Greg Powell (winner of the 2009 NVTA One Act Festival Award for Best Production of an Original Play and Best Overall Production for Garden of Eden: The True Underdog Story of Peoplekind) returns to a favorite subject in After the Garden, delivering witty, if occasionally raunchy, dialogue and cleverly developed characters, portrayed by a very funny and talented ensemble cast.
The show opens with Adam (Brandon DeGroat) and Eve (Jennifer Reitz), clad in little fig leaf outfits (or in the case of the not-so-brainy Adam a pair of itchy poison sumac undies), lamenting to the Angel Gabriel (Carl Nubile) about God’s (Ted Ballard) decision to eject them from the Garden for eating an apple from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve turns on her sex-pot charms when she tells Adam and Gabriel that a talking snake told her to eat the apple and it really was not her fault. (“Is it a good idea to take advice from a snake?” asks Adam. “Well, better that than an investment banker, stock broker or politician,” Eve cheekily replies.)
Feeling sympathetic to their plight, Gabriel, sporting a shiny Italian suit and a thick Long Island accent, tells Adam and Eve that he will talk to God about possibly letting them stay in the Garden. God, who has been watching the exchange on his laptop’s “God Cam,” angrily refuses to let them stay in the Garden and, thinking that the humans do not respect him, he demands that his advisor, Lucifer (Scott Olson), become Satan so that the humans, in their fear, will turn more to God. Reluctant to take on the evil role, Lucifer, in an hilarious exchange with God, asks God if he cannot just punish Adam and Eve with a well-deserved “time out.”
Meanwhile, Adam and Eve learn the joys of sex in a hilarious scene involving animal skins, give birth to Cain (Sam Rephsas) and Able (portrayed as a sock puppet by Joe Bersack) and teach their sons, much to the delight of God, that everything on earth was made by God. Cain questions the teachings of his parents much to their and God’s disappointment. Cain even tries to offer God homemade vegetarian pizza as a sacrifice instead of the usual: blood of a lamb. It turns out that God prefers Abel’s ultimate meat-lovers pizza (complete with lamb bits). Finally, Cain, in his attempt to please God, kills his sock puppet brother as a sacrifice and is ultimately banished.
The cast members, despite a few minor line flubs, deliver consistent high energy performances that keep the audience laughing. DeGroat is especially engaging as the dim-witted Adam. His gift for physical comedy kept me giggling each time he was on the stage (as did his skimpy loin cloth). Ballard’s God is also a clear stand-out as he lands some of the show’s biggest laughs. Ballard’s comfort on the stage and with his character is clearly evident in his hilarious facial expressions and remarkable comedic timing. I also found particular enjoyment in the on-stage relationship between God and Lucifer, expertly played by Olson.
After the Garden, directed by Lori Muhlstein and Sally Zatkoff, delivers in its bid to make you laugh over and over. If you enjoy clever, though occasionally raunchy comedy, this show is a must see!
Please note: After the Garden is playing at The Clinic, which is a very small venue, located on a second floor and is not air-conditioned. Although they have fans blowing over the audience, be advised that you may end up just as sweaty as the actors on stage by the end of the show.
After the Garden
Written by Greg Powell
Directed by Lori Muhlstein and Sally Zatkoff
Produced by Elissa Hudson
Presented by Tree of Knowledge Productions
Reviewed by Sabrina C. Daly
Running time: 1 hour
Read all the reviews and check out the full Capital Fringe schedule here.
Did you see the show? What did you think?
My wife and I had a terrific time and enjoyed the zany performance. I enjoyed the scenes where Eve was in tiny her jungle suit (poison sumac!). I was expecting to get a slap from my better half only to realize she was doing the same, Adam was scantily clad as well. The character of God was spot on. He was made for this role. Didn’t expect a puppet to turn either! Surprisingly, this only added to the delightful exchange between “the puppet” (Able) and his brother (Cain or course), did I say zany! I don’t want to leave out “Say-tin” and Gabriel. Two fine actors indeed.
I did myself a favor and (through the noise of the fans) actually listened to the lines delivered. What hit me was the level of wit hidden in the script, very clever writing, without a doubt. Do the same and you will see what I mean.
Overall, the writer did a fantastic job creating this performance and the actors did just a well delivering it. The only question I have is why such a fine festival would put anyone in a venue like the Clinic? Anyway, I for one appreciated the show.
I saw this show on the 13th as well, and have to say I agree with DCKID. It certainly was not the most awful thing that I have ever seen, but I chose to see this show based on the rave review above and left the theater dissatisfied and feeling misled. The show felt haphazardly thrown together with a few decent performances, but a very unfocused script and direction that did little to help. I also realize that their are a wide array of reviewers from varying backgrounds, but this show did not do any of the things for me described in the review, and was not nearly as well put together as several of the other shows that I have seen at fringe this year thus far with much more modest reviews. Clearly this is just one person’s opinion and it differs than the others posted here, but if I had to pick again, I’d pass on this one.
I saw the show on Sunday with a couple friends. We thought everyone did a fantastic job. All of the actors were great. I think the man who played God was outstanding. He was so funny. There were literally laugh out loud moments. I do agree with one of the other reviews above. It was VERY warm in there and at times it was extremely difficult to hear over the fans. In addition, it was hard to see the stage even in that tiny room. An absolutely TERRIBLE theater! It looks more like a crack house.
There’s always a bad apple in the bunch. I think I saw you on the 13th, the frumpy person in the back, all alone.
Let me guess…you have a friend in another play. I too saw After the Garden and could not disagree with your comments more. Your feedback is too contrived to make me believe it was done for any other reason than to dissuade others from going, for reason unknown (and not yours). I realize the venue was a difficult and extremely warm environment but don’t take your anger out on a well written and well acted play. Obviously you did not get it.
Garnering a favorable review at The Fringe is not just a given, it was well earned. As far as my take on After The Garden, take the advice of the pros and go see it!
I could not disagree more with DCkid. This show was very funny. Not only did it make me laugh, it was very thought provoking as well. I will say that the noisy fans and the heat were very distracting. We had a wonderful time and thought the actors did a top notch job. We had a very enjoyable evening.
I could not have been more disappointed by this show especially after reading this review. When looking for a fringe show to go see last night I chose this one based on the review that made it sound like a side-splitting with laughter show. I realize there is a wide variety of DCTS reviewers and many with different opinions but I don’t know if I saw the same show as this reviewer. The show was disappointing, incohesive, the script could use more revisions, and I did not find much of the acting to be funny at all. I followed the story and what they were attempting to accomplish through the writing but I felt it was done poorly and I left feeling like I wasted my time. The energy in The Clinic was less than what was desribed above which leads me to believe that maybe it was just a bad night. Overall, I was letdown by After the Garden.