Genre: Performance Art
Written by: Mathew Sandoval
Directed by: DeeAnn Nelson and Mathew Sandoval
Performed by: Dave Lewman, Joe Liss, Mark Nutter and John Rubano
Running time: 70 minutes
Web site: firstfunction.org

The Fall is an amateurish interpretation of Paradise Lost. According to the program, "two clownish vagabonds," Aidan and Dawn, are "trapped" in a grim part of the "unforgiving earth." Are they bums in a deserted alley or the last two people on earth? Is this set in a post-apocalyptic world? If so, is the grating banality of their back-and-forth supposed to sound avant-garde, or are they just two college students dressed as impoverished mimes, waxing hyperbolic? After much wasted speculation, the Adam and Eve allegory becomes apparent. Here, Eden is "a graveyard," Eve "a graveyard flower," the Tree of Knowledge a trash can, and the Forbidden Fruit a thrown-out banana. The choreography is comparable to that of a B-minus high school drama project and the dialogue is the uninspiring he-said-she-said of a couple in marital distress. In an early scene, Dawn asks, "Why am I here?" Aidan answers, "I don't know." I left the theater asking the exact same question.—Denise Penny

• Where: The Black Box at 440 Studios
• When: Sun, Aug 15 at 5:15 p.m.; Thu, Aug 19 at 3 p.m.; Sat, Aug 21 at 4:30 p.m.; Sun, Aug 22 at 9:45 p.m.; Thu, Aug 26 at 7:30 p.m.