Speakeasy’s ‘Small Mouth Sounds’ Silently Sends Up Spirituality Industry

by Mike Hoban

Small Mouth Sounds – Written by Bess Wohl; Directed by M. Bevin O’Gara; Scenic Design by Cristina Todesco; Costume Design by Mary Lauve; Lighting Design by Annie Wiegand; Sound Design by Elizabeth Cahill. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company at The Roberts Studio Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston through February 2.

If you’ve ever been skeptical of the kind of spirituality-lite movements whose adherents sometimes mouth the words of the Dali Lama while still behaving with all of the empathy of a corporate raider, you’re going to love Small Mouth Sounds, now playing at SpeakEasy Stage. This very funny but deceptively poignant play by Bess Wohl lovingly skewers the spirituality industry while leaving the door open to the possibility that the universe may indeed work in mysterious ways – when we’re in enough pain to seek a better path.

The play contains very little dialogue, as the six characters embark on a five-day silent retreat in search of a life-altering experience. One of the only voices we do hear is that of The Teacher (Marianna Bassham), a celebrity spiritual guru/author, who, like a mellowed-out version of the Great and Powerful Oz, remains unseen as she dispenses wisdom through nonsensical parables and empty catch phrases dressed up as profundities. She’s also going through some emotional crises of her own while fighting off a cold, which at one point leads her to inadvertently pronounce, “perhaps the key to enlightenment is…cold medicine” during one of her specious teaching sessions.   

The attendees at her retreat are seeking spiritual answers to their real life issues, which run the gamut from the concrete to the existential. There’s Jan (Barlow Adamson), a reflective man getting over a devastating loss; Ned (Nael Nacer) a devout follower of the teacher who, following a string of horrible mishaps, has come to seek meaning in his tortured life; Alicia (Gigi Watson), a young woman recovering from a bad breakup; Rodney (Sam Simahk), the hunky spiritual poser/yoga instructor hoping to further his “enlightenment”; and Joan (Kerry Dowling) and Judy (Celeste Oliva), a middle-aged lesbian couple dealing with (or not) the impact of Judy’s life-threatening disease on their relationship. Although they’re all at the retreat to heal something, they’re still very human, so there are varying degrees of commitment to the actual process of changing.

While some are rightly skeptical about the teacher’s methods, as a group they don’t seem particularly keen on actually complying with rules or following any kind of instruction anyway. When they’re not sneaking junk food or smoking weed, they’re pursuing each other romantically/sexually and pretty much doing their best to sabotage any hope of real spiritual growth – which provides much of the fodder for the comedy. But there’s also plenty of pathos in Small Mouth Sounds, and watching the characters struggle with their all-too-real issues keeps this charming piece from devolving into an extended parody sketch on the spirituality movement.

One such moment comes when everyman Ned – in one of the few instances in the play where a character actually speaks – prefaces a question to The Teacher about the meaning of life. He delivers a monologue enumerating the bleak details of his misfortunes that would make even a cynic tear up – if it weren’t for Nacer’s wonderful comic delivery. But most of the laughs come without words, and also without the benefit of much broad physical comedy. It’s the silent interaction and reactions of the characters to each other that make this piece so uniquely interesting. The actors do a lot with simple gestures and eye movements – whether it’s a sidelong glance at a potential partner or adversary or an eye roll at one of The Teacher’s many inanities. It’s a play that forces us to take in the whole scene to make sure we get it all, and the effort is richly rewarded. The level of commitment by the actors to the tiniest of moments is remarkable, and director M. Bevin O’Gara (returning to Boston for the first time since taking the artistic director’s position with the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca, N.Y.) paces the show beautifully, allowing us to take in the multiple comic moments of each scene.

Towards the end of the play, The Teacher tells her students that the retreat is “a vacation from your habits.” In the case of Small Mouth Sounds, it’s a welcome vacation from the insanity of the world around us. For tickets and information, go to: http://www.speakeasystage.com/