‘Enough’ a Grim Portrayal of Despair, Self-Destruction

Louis Fantasia gives a gritty performance of imploding despair in Peter Turrini’s one-person play “Enough” at Glaxa Studios. Turrini’s “monodrama,” in a new English translation of “Endlich Schluss” by Andrea Hacker, details the last hours of a middle-aged man whose self-destructive tendencies draw to a desperate conclusion--his suicide.

The plot is simple. A former journalist is counting to 1,000 before he shoots himself in the head.

Fantasia paces around a square of burgundy-colored carpet as the audience enters the dimly lit venue. A naked bulb dangles above the middle of the carpet, casting a small spot of light in the carpet’s center and reflecting footprints off its bare surface.

As the audience continues to file in silently, Fantasia retreats to a dark corner, standing with his back to the audience until he begins his rant. For this man, “Nothing is real; only this gun at my head is real.” He worries about his claustrophobia and his impending encasement in a coffin or if he’s properly dressed for the “occasion.” He catalogs his destructive tendencies that ruined his career and his marriage.

Fantasia portrays this man with sweaty anger and unhappy intelligence. Director and lighting designer Leupold orchestrates this almost incomprehensible rage without a touch of sympathy, and Turrini doesn’t give many clues to this man’s bitter, self-defeating ways.

Bleakly realized, this portrait is uncompromisingly grim. The heavy, oppressing atmosphere of depression builds, bringing a morbid sense of relief at the conclusion.

BE THERE

“Enough,” Glaxa Studios, 3707 Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends June 17. $15-$18. (323) 769-6436. Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.