Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll

In Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, Bogosian uses his brilliantly conceived cast of characters to comment hilariously yet subtly on the larger issues that define our time: the relations between men and women; man's vision of the world and future; and the self-delusion, anxiety, and hatred endemic to modernity.

From Spalding Gray to Anna Deavere Smith, monologists have become a real power in contemporary theater. Few have had the savage impact of Eric Bogosian, who continues to get inside working- (and formerly working-) class Joes with attitude in his 1990 Monologue of 12 Characters. Among the vivid rebels he incarnates are an artist who resolves to keep his art inside his head to prevent "the system" from commercializing it and an entire group of blue-collar guys whose wedding-eve party for a buddy turns into a merry sleigh ride to hell. The virtuoso piece of Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll shows a high-powered executive who juggles business partners, enemies, spouse, mistress, and children on a cellular phone, showing each a distinct side of his twisted personality.