A Case for the Existence of God (Seymour Centre) ★★★½

Written by Samuel D Hunter. Outhouse Theatre Co. Seymour Centre. 11 Apr – 4 May, 2024.

Usually, when a narrative looks at the inner workings of male friendship, it uses violence (or sport, but same thing) as its outlet. A Case for the Existence of God bypasses that to look instead at how two men bond over fatherhood, failure and the financial system revealing a deep well of despair.

Working class, white father Ryan (Anthony Gooley) wants a mortgage to buy back some land that had once belonged to his family. He approaches black, gay mortgage broker Keith (Elijah Williams), who he met at his daughter’s daycare, for help. On paper they could not be more different. As Keith takes the time to talk Ryan through his options they slowly open up to each other. Ryan is dealing with his impending divorce and doesn’t want his daughter to have to visit him in a “sad dad” apartment. Keith’s initially calm and professional exterior slowly cracks to reveal a man struggling with the twists and turns of the adoption system. Both find themselves in a precarious situation.

Playwright Samuel D Hunter puts these two characters into a pressure cooker to force them out of their comfort zones. Ryan is already on edge when the play begins. Obviously nervous and intimidated by the financial world he’s forced into, he prattles with a disarming honesty. It’s enough to make Keith peel back the pretence of professionalism to reveal a simmering, existential fear. “You either play by the rules and pretend it all means something, or you don’t get anything. That’s most of what being an adult is,” he says.

Over the next 90 minutes, the two have a variety of conversations exploring their worlds and finding that, beneath all the surface differences, they “share a specific kind of sadness.” Whether it’s waiting for a loan, or waiting for an adoption, both men’s fortunes lie in the hands of unseen, uncaring decision makers (perhaps they are the “God” of the play’s name, otherwise I really don’t know where the title comes from).

The one thing Outhouse Theatre Co excels at is performances. I can honestly say their shows have some of the best acting I’ve seen on Australian stages, and the most consistently excellent casts. They seem to choose material designed to bring the acting talent to the fore, and Case.. is no exception. Anthony Gooley is so utterly authentic as Ryan it feels ingrained in him. Each tick or pause feels honest and unplanned, making it impossible not to care for his well being. Elijah Williams’ Keith is a slower nut to crack, but his brittle nature speaks to a man trying to live up to the lofty expectations of “queer, black exceptionalism,” knowing it could all disappear in an instant. Cutting against stereotype, Hunter makes blue-collar Ryan the more gentle of the two, and the erudite Keith the more emotionally volatile. 

Director Craig Baldwin and Designer Veronique Benett force these characters together in a prison-box of an office cubicle. Neither has personal space in which to escape. The play is static, by design, and the final moment of release is well earned. 

I can’t say that my attention was held for the whole running time however. Watching the two men overcome their reserve and become friends is a slow process that starts to feel dramatically listless. When the complications come, as they must for the drama. some of the revelations felt contrived. I should also note that at the performance in question, the show was halted due to a medical incident in the audience (all is well, the patron in question was helped quickly and professionally by the production team and Seymour staff). This did however have the unfortunate effect of forcing an unexpected “interval” around two thirds of the way through which interrupted the intended pacing.

A Case for the Existence of God feels fresh in the way it handles male relationships and masculine ennui (or “crisis of masculinity” if you prefer). While this story of “men behaving sadly” lacks the emotional fireworks of other Outhouse Theatre Co productions, it delivers with sterling performances and a genuinely different outlook you rarely see in the theatre.