Philip Ridley’s Radiant Vermin is Dark, Devastating, and True to Our Times

Ollie (Matt Braddak) and Jill (Mimi Brill) are an upbeat, upwardly mobile couple having their first child and looking into buying their first house. This brings them to the attention of the mysterious Miss Dee (Mejiah), who is brandishing a contract that holds the key to their dream home. In a visible red flag, the contract is a long, ancient-looking scroll. But the couple is determined to renovate their new abode into a virtual palace, and they fall under Miss Dee’s spell. Soon after, Ollie catches a hungry homeless person in the house and brutally murders them—and magically, one of the rooms of the house is instantly transformed into the very picture of what the couple have always envisioned.

Ollie and Jill realize that the key to this magic is the “sacrifice” of the homeless in the neighborhood, and begin an abominable murder spree, luring the less fortunate into their parlor with promises of food and a bath. With each murder, another room is instantly refurbished. They refer to the homeless they kill as their “renovators”, and thrill to the wonders of their paradisial home, all while their psyches begin to fracture at the horror of their actions. As events spiral into darkness the audience gets to play a part as well, as Ollie and Jill break the 4^th Wall and address us directly, asking us to vote on and judge their choices and actions. It is a genius way of bringing the onlookers into the narrative and leaving us ruminating about the part we ourselves play in the ever-creeping social-economic inequality of the world today.

As events unfold, Miss Dee watches from the balcony from behind a dollhouse, symbolizing a God’s Eye View of events (or in this case, perhaps the opposite supernatural being). The effect is a brutal indictment of human greed, the current state of the housing market, and the willingness of the privileged to ride to success on the backs of the impoverished.

The three actors are individually and collectively astonishing. Mejiah does a star turn as the flamboyant Miss Dee, who is at times sensational and satanic, sunny and sinister. In the most heartbreaking moment of the play, Mejiah returns as another character—a kind, desperate young homeless man with a tragic family backstory—who gets caught in Ollie and Jill’s masterplan. When he realizes what is happening, he makes a shocking decision that will haunt anyone who witnesses it for a long time to come.

Braddak and Brill are magnificent together. The couple’s journey from murder to madness rivals the titular couple of Shakespeare’s Scottish play. In the most humorous scene, the couple invite their neighbors to a birthday garden party for their now one-year-old son Benjamin. In this sequence, Braddak and Brill play not only Ollie and Jill, but all of their guests, deftly changing demeanors, voices, and body language in a split-second and back again. Ollie and Jill are at their most paranoid here, triggered by words like “kill” and wondering if their neighbors are on to their heinous actions.

The play is powerfully directed by Kimberly Loren Eaton, who paints a vivid picture of the conquest of the privileged through clever use of shadowy backdrop images, jarring sound cues and well-timed lighting effects. Radiant Vermin is unique and powerful, and not to be missed.

Note: This production features gunshot sounds and flashing non-strobe bright lights.

Radiant Vermin is presented by Ripple Effect Artists, Inc. A portion of proceeds benefits The Bowery Mission.