Airport and the Strange Package

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Sean King’s Airport and the Strange Package at the Gene Frankel Theatre is a dizzying, Kafka-esque “dark satire.”  Airport  takes King’s lead character the Traveler (later revealed to be named Finbar Fink!), King’s version of a Josef K-like innocent, on a harrowing downward spiral of frustration and anger with more than a touch of anti-Semitism thrown in for good measure.

The Traveler (Michael Kishon), a podiatrist en route home to family in North Carolina sits on a bench just outside his boarding gate when a Stranger (Connor Stewart) rushes in with a package wrapped in plain brown paper.  He tells the Traveler to take it on the airplane with him and place it in an overhead bin over a particular seat.  The Stranger dashes out leaving the Traveler to ponder the enigmatic package.

What to do?  Be a good citizen and turn in the package to the proper authorities, he decides.

Bad decision.

A clueless Police Officer (Peter Sullivan) suggests he bring the package to a Desk Sergeant named Curtis (Joshua Boyce) who flippantly sends him off to another Desk Sergeant (Sullivan again) who passes him onto the obnoxious Stan, a TSA officer in a bright blue suit (Kyle Mcllhone) whose redneck buddy, Hule (John Meehan), joins in the slow motion torture of the Traveler, interrupted occasionally by the cleaner, Cliff (Boyce, again), whose attention to whatever he’s listening to on his earphones make him impervious to the drama unfolding in front of him.

They go through the report he filed, irritatingly questioning every single item.  They are particularly interested in his name: Fink.  The two dolts make frequent reference to Fink’s Jewish background to which he protests—in vain.

When the two TSA agents go off together, supposedly to discuss things with a superior (Sullivan, yet again), Fink makes a decision that will ultimately decide his fate.

All this is played out against James Dardenne’s monochrome but flexible set, all hinged panels that reshaped the space quite efficiently. A digital clock, dead center, nerve-rackingly keeps track of the increasingly tense, surrealistic plot.

Inda Blatch Geib’s costumes, from Fink’s tousled tan suit to the officers’ letter-perfect uniforms, help keep all the characters straight. Herrick Goldman’s lighting, glaring and colorless, add to the edgy mood.

Under the astute direction of William Roudebush, the actors are unabashed but avoid clichés, even Mcllhone and Meehan who could easily go into Jim Nabors mode keep their characters just shy of caricature.

Also skirting stereotype is Boyce whose two characters, both colorfully and determinedly Black, register as real people.

Sullivan skillfully turns his final character, a high-up TSA official, into the one who brings the tale to a frightening conclusion.

Kishon, with his youthful face and figure, is the perfect foil for King’s exasperating storyline, somewhat naïve despite being educated, yet able to come up with a wisecrack or two when pushed to the wall.  When he eventually works up the courage to express his rage it is impressive.

Airport and the Strange Package effectively combines good old-fashioned paranoia with witty references to Kafka’s classic. King and his collaborators have fashioned a frightening but entertaining portrait of airport security gone crazy.  After all, what modern traveler hasn’t feared the awesome, if arbitrary, power of the Transportation Security Administration?

The Traveler/Fink pays a big price for his good Samaritan instincts.

Airport and the Strange Package (through August 25, 2024)

Great Cannonball Productions

Gene Frankel Theatre, 24 Bond Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.Airport-and-the-Strange-Package.com

Running time: 80 minutes without an intermission