In Howard Barker’s “The Castle,” weary soldiers return home from the Crusades to discover that their wives are hardly awaiting them with open arms. Indeed, the women have gone on to establish a rebellious new society, one that disdains religion and embraces free love with both sexes.
So much for light summer entertainment. This new presentation by PTP/NYC (Potomac Theatre Project) isn’t for the intellectually faint of heart, dense as it is in both language and themes.
The off-Broadway company is clearly enamored of the British playwright, who dubs his works “Theater of Catastrophe.” This 1985 epic dark comedy is its 10th Barker production in 27 seasons, and while its dedication is admirable, the results can be heavy lifting.
As the play begins, the knight Stucley (David Barlow) is stricken to discover that his wife, Ann (Jennifer Van Dyck), has borne several children with the men who were left behind. She’s also become the lover of the widow Skinner (Jan Maxwell), who’s later condemned as a witch and forcibly chained to the corpse of one of her supposed victims.
The knight’s masculine solution to the situation is an erection — of a castle of gargantuan height, to be designed by Krak (Quentin Mare), the Arab engineer who is among Stucley’s spoils of war. Throughout the proceedings we periodically hear the deafening sounds of its construction and, in the second act, barb wire looms ominously over the action.
The Shakespearean-style work mixes heavy drama, scatological humor and social satire to dizzying and sometimes bewildering effect. The convoluted plot and torrents of dense language are deliberately off-putting, and the action often remains obscure.
Still, there are scenes to savor, like Stucley’s hilarious debate with a priest (Brent Langdon) about Jesus’ sexuality, and Skinner’s impassioned attempt to win back the wayward Ann.
“Love is also a weapon,” she declares. “Our power comes from our love.”
Under Richard Romagnoli’s fast-paced direction, the lead actors are all first-rate, with Mare delivering a deliciously enigmatic performance as the castle’s architect. And it’s a particular pleasure to see Maxwell, a five-time Tony nominee often relegated to light comic roles (“Lend Me a Tenor,” “The Royal Family”) display her formidable dramatic chops in this searing performance.