"I'm good at making stuff up," he says to the audience, his smiling face wide with innocence. Nick then proceeds to relate the story of what happened to him as a 14-year-old who spent more time in chat rooms than with other kids his age and became deft at getting out of unpleasant situations by using his imagination with a "comic book superhero's dexterity." When a theater arts teacher (a deliciously melodramatic Lorna Nogueira) suggests the best theater is dangerous and discusses the "dark play," a kind of game where some players know the rules and others have no idea they're playing a game, Nick decides to put the theory into practice.
He discovers a 16-year-old named Adam (Mark Vashro) in a chat room, posting a message that he wants to fall in love. He decides to test Adam's "gullibility threshold" and creates Rachel (Christine Busler), who describes herself as a combination of Hilary Duff, Avril Lavigne, and Natalie Portman, Adam's ultimate fantasy. In addition to Rachel, Nick creates several other characters to fill out Rachel's world (all played by Nogueira and a hilarious Brian Quint). Adam falls hard for Rachel in a relationship that develops through their online conversations, but things get complicated when Adam demands to meet her.
Adam repeatedly tells us, "I'm not dumb," but his myopic determination to fall in love makes his "gullibility threshold" higher than normal. It's no surprise that he's easy to manipulate, but the 14-year-old Nick's level of control is a little shocking. When Nick's elaborate tale of why Rachel can't meet Adam begins to spin out of control, instead of stepping back, Adam steps deeper into the mess, with nearly deadly results.
Playwright Carlos Murillo used the true story of a British boy who was convicted for inciting his own attempted murder as the inspiration for "dark play." But Murillo seems uncomfortable with his manipulative main character; his dialogue too often leans toward precious and too quickly strains believability. A scene with Nick's mom, which comes after Nick has lured Adam to his bedroom, for example, is just ridiculous.
Nick's direct addresses to the audience can be more than a little cloying, but director Danielle Fauteux Jacques makes sure the audience feels like a coconspirator. Her ability to keep the play moving swiftly helps smooth over some of the gaps in Murillo's script. Her skill with the actors keeps the psychological drama high and prevents "dark play" from becoming simply a cautionary tale about the dangers of the Internet.
