Jeff Talbot’s The Submission opened at the Zeitgeist Stage Company, an intimate black box venue, in Boston on May 8th and will be showing until May 30th. The Submission is NOT related to S&M in any way, but is about a gay white male playwright who submits his play to a prestigious festival using a pseudonym then must deal with the consequences as each reader showers the play with accolades. There are four characters: the playwright, his all business husband, his straight best friend and the black woman that he hires to portray the pseudonym that he created. To give away anymore may ruin the experience.
The Submission asks some provocative questions. Are stories and words universal and belong to anyone or do some things have a proprietorship earned by suffering and time? The Submission reminded me of my naive surprise when I discovered that many people who wanted me to be their allies on issues which were important to them sounded like FOX news pundits when it came to people who protest unarmed extrajudicial killings. Suffering does not make natural allies.
David Miller is still great after well over a decade of directing culturally and politically rigorous and controversial works. Victor Shopov as Danny, the playwright, manages to use his inherent likability and winsome smile to mold a character that you don’t want to believe is the person that is clearly before you. Aina Adler also walks a tricky tight rope and succeeds at staying aloft. Diego Buscaglia and Matthew Fagerberg manage to be supportive while remaining distinctive characters that honor their individual codes.
I would encourage you to give the play a chance unless you can’t stand profanity or epithets. In past discussions with fellow audience members who knew that there were gay characters in a movie or a tv show or made by gay creators, these viewers STILL complained that there was any level of physical intimacy expressed by same sex couples-even just a kiss. So even though I think that it goes without saying, there is a married gay couple. They kiss. If you don’t like it, don’t see it.