Dad’s Garage’s Griefers grabs audience by the joysticks

Griefers, the world premiere comedy at Dad’s Garage Theatre’s Top Shelf space, follows two men in their early 30s who take more satisfaction from video games than their real lives. They particularly enjoy blasting bad guys in “first-person shooters,” which the glossary in the play’s program defines as “A very immersive style of gameplay that makes you feel as though you are inside the game.”

Immersiveness turns out to be one of the most effective weapons in Griefers’ arsenal, as writer/directors Christian Danley and Randy Havens show more insights into online behaviors than most other pop dramatizations in our instant-messaging, blogtastic virtual culture. For instance, the film Funny People from Judd Apatow (whom Griefers gently mocks) includes a scene at the MySpace corporate party and plenty of trash-talk at Facebook’s expense. But the film pays lip service to the popularity of social media without really exploring the psychology behind it. Films and many plays view online life over the shoulder of the user, while Griefers, however imperfect, really plugs the audience in.

Danley and Havens play old friends Barry and Keith, who spend most of their spare time together shooting zombies and other antagonists. “Together,” however, is a loaded concept, given that they physically remain at their separate homes: Their avatars hang out and shoot the breeze in virtual space, like pals chatting at the pool table of the neighborhood bar. Griefers cleverly gives the actors toy guns and places them before a projected backdrop of, say, “Jungle Murder,” and features amusing “action scenes” of Barry and Keith getting caught up while the undead shamble toward them.

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(Photo by Stacey Bode)