The Persistent Guest at BCT

Or: Disintegrate Regenerate

Way back in the before times, uncounted years ago in 2019 I had the distinct delight of attending Jodeen Revere’s The Persistent Guest, a one woman odyssey through her three separate journeys through cancer and recovery. Through her simple, stool bound recitation, I was mesmerized by the mix of the sacred and profane, the jags of no sh*t-things-are-serious to brilliant firework bursts of humor and back again, her poetry and her presence.

I’m happy to report that all the best bits remain in the new, full stage production put on by Boise Contemporary Theater. Between a chemo chair, a shark-festooned bed, and two benches, Revere prowls, prances, slides and cha-chas around over and through her locals. She is, as ever, alive and vibrant, an aioli sauce that enlivens wherever it spreads. It is so good to see her unbound, crouching as a child, sprawling love-drunk in bed, screaming at full volume.

New to the experience are the sounds and images. Revere introduces the play as a 4-D Occulous “Cancer helmet made of words,” and the projections (courtesy of Andy Lawless) and the sound scape (Peter John Still) flesh out the more intangible experiences. While I, personally dear reader, deplore and revile projections in the theater, the additions are not without merit. Nebulous clouds accompany the swirling effects of chemo therapy, a glitching mushroom cloud for savage pain. Sudden explosions and shrieks of tearing metal wrench the audience around.

But none of it can quite eclipse the power of a body on stage. The moment when after settling a pattern of returning to the chair for her “touch of Chernobyl” Revere hesitates a step before climbing in again, or her balanced embodiment/interrogation of her needy inner child, or the examination of her exquisite scars and new skin “pink as kitten pads.” All these are held perfectly, illustrations of her own sparkling prose and story, that isn’t out to instill any kind of message but, like water, can take many forms and revives whoever it drinks it in. I highly encourage folk to see the play, since I cannot wait for Revere to step from this, as best as one can, and unfold other stories for us.