Will Eno’s The Flu Season is as much about the creative process as it is about the mental-health narrative it presents. Eno has been compared to Samuel Beckett -- his plays, similarly, question the meaning of existence, as well as remind all involved parties of the performer/audience dialogue in which we’re participating. At least, that’s also what Nova Arts Project’s fantastic staging of Eno’s Thom Pain (based on nothing) managed to evoke last year at DiverseWorks.
Photo by Dave Rossman

Eno is a master at finding fascination in the mundane. A character called Prologue, played by Sean Patrick Judge (who also played Thom Pain) walks onstage in pitch black and makes a comment about “footsteps in the dark.” It establishes a specific tone for the play, one in which words will take precedent over action.

Epilogue (Bobby Haworth) soon arrives. He’s Prologue’s cynical foil, and he’ll always have the last word even if he doesn’t have one. They represent Eno’s double-conscience as the writer, and as they set up each scene for the audience, they contradict each other over the play’s intent and worth.

The narrative they’re discussing concerns the Man and the Woman, played by Caleb George and Jessica Janes. Both patients in a mental hospital (for unknown reasons), they meet, argue and seem perfect for each other. After a sexual encounter, events lead to their eventual detachment and the inevitable tragic outcome. In the meantime, their counselors, played by Lyndsay Sweeney and Wayne Barnhill, find true romance.

There’s an airy, atmospheric quality to director Matt Huff’s staging, which is laid-back and light, avoiding the temptation to dress the characters up with, well, character. Eno’s writing only demands that talented actors speak and convey the words, which wash over nicely and at times have a tendency to narcotize, appropriate for the hospital setting (nicely rendered by Greg Dean’s deconstructed set).

Ultimately, you may be left wondering what the intent was, and maybe that’s Eno’s point. Seasons turn, we form relationships, and we struggle to cure our sicknesses. In the end, though, maybe it’s about finding someone with whom you can share your disease.

Mildred’s Umbrella Theatre Company presents The Flu Season. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays through March 13 at Midtown Arts Center, 3414 LaBranch. $15. (Monday, March 8 is pay what you can.)