Not everything translates well when delivered nearly a century after its creation. Certainly, making a stylistically dated piece play well—however avant-garde and progressive the piece may have been in its day—is a task for a nuanced touch. Mounting such a production is a challenge, with much dialogue and action that can go wrong and not be understood by the audience. The Great Recession Theatre's production of "The Madman and the Nun" achieves its goals in some areas, and confuses its audience in others.

“The Madman and the Nun” was originally written in 1923 by Polish author Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (1885-1939). Commonly known as "Witkacy", he was a poet, playwright, novelist, painter, photographer and philosopher. Many view him as a pioneer of absurdist theater, doing this style of work years before Beckett and others broadened the genre’s popularity.

And absurd, this play is. The story of a madman (Steven Carrieri) in an asylum, the show opens with him in a bare room, lying straightjacketed on bed. As the story unfolds, we are introduced to his medical staff, which he refers to as his “torturers” (played by Charles Young and Josh Wolonick). We are also introduced to a sympathetic nun (Dorota Krimmel), who discovers the madman is actually the famous poet Alexander Walpurg. She quickly becomes his love interest, right there in lockdown.

The two leads, Steven Carrieri and Dorota Krimmel (who also co-directed), gave us some very nice moments. Each performer did considerable work with their characters. Carrieri's role in particular was very demanding, and he delivered a convincing range, from sympathetic victim to abusive and heartless murderer.

Some of the other performances were harder to follow logically, but perhaps that was the author's intent, especially as any sense of logic begins to break down into the absurd. There were points where the audience laughed, but it was an uneasy laugh and unlikely one that the production intended.

Like many things off the beaten path, theater of the absurd is a personal taste, and is sadly wasted on the uninitiated.