_{Cody Sullivan}
^{Photo: Ben Weihbrecht}

Review by Steve Desroches

It is hard to think of an artist in Provincetown, of any medium, that takes as big risks as Cody Sullivan. You can’t get good, never mind great, without taking chances. You have to bet on yourself. And in Sullivan’s latest play Autocrat he doubles down on his talents, vision, and viewpoint in a production that is thrilling, inventive, and wild. 

Autocrat introduces us to the Leclerc family, lower-middle-class descendants of French-Canadian immigrants living in south central Massachusetts. Maureen, the long-suffering steel mayflower matriarch of the clan has had it with her two young grandsons in her care, who continually steal sips of Autocrat Coffee Syrup in class as they can’t resist the tasty official state drink of nearby Rhode Island, while her twin sister Doreen pops by to celebrate their shared birthday. And her granddaughter Tessa, about to graduate from college, clearly didn’t get a degree in nuance as her sense of morality is black, white, and sanctimonious…even though she’s right, albeit with huge blind spots. In this kitchen sink comedy turn drama the character-driven narrative follows the challenges of this family’s life, as the minutiae of being working-class in a contemporary culture that ridicules such people is drizzled with the larger troubling moral issues of today’s America. 

Sullivan’s script is impeccable. Smart, but not fussy. Adventuresome, but measured. Thoughtful, but never, ever pretentious, Autocrat crackles with electricity as a work of literature. Sullivan’s background in improv comedy shines in his performance style. Autocrat is not a solo show, but rather a play in which Sullivan plays all the characters. Performed on a completely stripped-down black box stage at the Provincetown Theater, with no set other than a simple chair, no props, no costuming, no lighting cues, and no makeup, Sullivan uses this bare-bones conceit to great effect. Other than some directorial advice from Ali Greene, Sullivan takes on the responsibility of creating rich imagery with nothing but his words and performance. It’s an enormous gamble as in the hands of a lesser performer a play in which one actor plays all the parts would be a freaking nightmare. Instead, Autocrat is one of the most compelling, engaging, and riveting works of theater to come out of Provincetown in a very long time. It’s an incredible feat. As a performer Sullivan is able to get in your head so much so that in your mind’s eye you develop a mental hologram of what these characters look like, as well as the interior of the house and the characters who never even appear on stage. Sullivan even portrays the family dog and you can get a sense of the breed. Above all else, to watch Autocrat is to see an artist completely embrace creative freedom. It is in short, brilliant.

Autocrat is at the Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St., every Tuesday in June at 7 p.m. Tickets ($35) are available at the box office and online at provincetowntheater.org. For more information call 508.487.7487.