In a dilapidated and decaying diner, frail figures shuffle their skinny frames across the floor. Staring emptily at one another with eyes like black pools, they suddenly lash out at one other in fits of primal anger. Is this Night of the Living Dead? Sadly, it's not. It's the Brandeis Theater Company's production of Balm In Gilead, and these would-be zombies were in fact an electrifying cast of hustlers, hookers, beatniks and bums who skulked through the shadows of Spingold's Laurie Theater this past Saturday night. The 1964 play by Lanford Wilson takes the audience inside a nameless café on the bum streets of New York City. The play takes its name from a biblical hymn, that describes the region of Gilead as a holy refuge free from the pressures of the outside world. The characters treat the café as if it were a modern day Gilead, venting their anger and bearing their inner beings without fear. Along the counter and inside the booths, a multitude of story lines unfold, ranging from the exploits of a romantic drug dealer to the tribulations of turning tricks on the street. It's the real world, and it's not a pretty thing.

The large and diverse cast sheds light on a number of social issues, including homosexuality, drug addiction and homelessness. While these may seem almost standard in today's media landscape, they would have been markedly more disturbing in 1964.

With the nerve-shattering prospect of the Vietnam draft on the horizon and the assassination of President Kennedy still a fresh memory, the play's atmosphere is steeped in hopelessness and fear. Rarely does a ray of hope pierce this diner's walls, save for the occasional bout of laughter or a heartwarming display of affection, such as the desperate love affair between drug dealer Joe (Ilya Sobol '08) and naive newcomer Darlene (Hannah Wilson, GRAD). Yet these instances are few and far between; most of the cast spends its time stumbling out of chairs or spinning tales of woe at the café counter. For the majority of the production the audience is treated to stories of the crushing reality of modernity.

Amid all the woes, unfortunately, it was difficult to find a unifying plot; oftentimes two or even three, stories occurred at once. Even the dialogues overlapped, forcing the audience to pick and choose which to follow. Many theatergoers may have found this unorthodox, but the produced effect worked with the "real-world" feel of the script. Much like the world in which we live, no single person, conversation or event holds the spotlight for very long. Only in the realm of fantasy does the world revolve around one person's story. If that's the point that Wilson was trying to make, then he succeeded admirably.

Yet the actors didn't compete for the audiences' attention; one at a time, they earned it. In spite of the play's often depressing subject matter, the cast members played off each other in a series of energetic exchanges, both verbal and physical. The characters constantly exploded at one another, keeping tension high throughout. Whether deliberate or not, this only added to the intense despair that dripped from the diner's walls.

This all took place on an expertly crafted set complete with the appropriate grit and grime, as well as live music courtesy of street musicians Samson Kohansky '08 and Alex Flemming '09.

Ultimately, enjoying a show like this depends entirely on perspective. While the play is an effective and sobering look at the cracks and crevices of real world, some theatergoers may have been looking for the exact opposite. They may have wanted an otherworldly story, complete with a dilemma, a hero and a solution-an escape from everyday life. But what Balm in Gilead delivered was not that kind of production. Rather, it was confusing, meandering and sometimes aimless. But that's about as close to reality as you're likely to come.