The Cast Photo by Steve Graue

[Spoiler alert on some plot points.] Griffin begins the story in Transylvania with the small crew of the Demeter grumbling somewhat at the last-minute requests from Dracula, whose belongings they are contracted to transport, including the demand that the ship carry a servant, Yorga, to oversee the cargo. The early days of the voyage pass mostly without incident, save minor tensions that seem only to be expected among any group forced to occupy such close quarters, and a few slightly odd interactions with Yorga, who is apt to roam the ship at night.

But once the voyage is properly underway, morale dips, tensions rise, and crew members begin disappearing when they are on watch. Each incident ratchets up the paranoia and suspicion among the remaining sailors, leading to the stabbing death of Yorga, whom the captain determines to expunge all mentions of in the ship's log after they throw the body overboard. Throughout, none of the sailors suffers so acutely as the first mate, whose young brother was the second victim.

The story culminates in a twist ending that realigns the story roughly within the boundaries of Stoker's pastiche novel. This doesn't land quite as well as much of the more successful parts of the story, as it comes with a strong tonal shift and a fair amount of exposition, a technique certainly dear to locked-room mysteries, but not all the moving parts that sell that are present here and a few aspects of the alternate story Griffin wants to tell with this twist are not entirely clear. Moreover, the play overall would benefit from some tightening up to trim out details that undoubtedly benefitted the script as it developed, but don't necessarily serve the staging. But with these minor quibbles aside, Griffin overall delivers a compelling narrative.

Ruby Lowe's scenic design does just enough to capably suggest the ship environment while foregrounding the storytelling. The ship's wheel is centered on a platform raised several feet above the main floor. This is set at an angle to the corner of the blackbox theater, creating "the sea" in the upstage-most corner. Stage left of the wheel is the ship's bell, which features prominently in the story, and stage right is a web of rigging. On the main floor, wooden crates are easily moved in and out to stage scenes in the captain's quarters, the galley, and so on. In three locations, two toward stage left and one downstage right, Lowe includes sails that unfurl to act as screens that facilitate storytelling through shadow puppetry (Jeremiah Barr also designed an effectively grotesque "in-the-flesh" puppet that we see as the story winds down).

The sails, as well as the lower face of the deck provide backgrounds for DJ Douglass's excellent projections. These range from handwritten entries in the captain's log and maps showing the ship's progress to more haunting, impressionistic images of light on murky water, flames in characters' memories, and the driving rain that plagues the ship on its journey. Liz Cooper's lighting is integral to both crafting the eerie mood and keeping the production honest as it moves through individual days, as well as long weeks. Finally, Joe Griffin's eerie, groaning sound design and original compositions seal the creepy deal for the production.

Brian Parry is a strong lead as Gorodetsky, the ship's Captain. The text calls on him to convey competence and conviction, but also to render it believable that he is rigid enough in his own Christian faith to cause problems with the crew that trusts his competence under normal circumstances. It's to Parry's credit that some of the tonally shaky material near the play's end works as well as it does.

As First mate Basarab, Alex Albrecht manages to sell the Chief's descent into madness quite well, though the text lapses into telling, rather than showing, in many cases. In other words, characters tell us frequently that Basarab is changed, but the direct evidence of this is sporadic. Albrecht, however, has a clear understanding of how Basarab's instability heightens throughout the course of the play.

Robert Howard is engaging as Second Mate Post, who also happens to be Gorodetsky's life-long friend. Howard resonates as the character who is eternally not-quite-in-charge and very comfortable with that. The revelation of his closeness with Gorodetsky comes rather late, but the chemistry between Howard and Parry conveys a deep bond, even with relatively little in the text to go on.

Jennifer Agather's performance as Ship's Hand Mister Gusa is well done, but this character raises questions about both the play itself and the production. For example, Agather is clearly a skilled gymnast. This attribute is woven into the character but the reasons for this are not clear. Moreover, Gusa is more or less the only character who speaks consistently with a marked accent. And finally, Gusa's appearances after the character's death do not read clearly. Certainly some amount of ambiguity is the playwright's prerogative, but this is an area where it is not obvious whether Griffin intends the character to serve as a red herring, a gun on the mantel, or something else entirely. These concerns, however, are not a commentary on the actor: Agather is creepy, evokes empathy and pathos, and hits the required comedic beats with skill.

In the supporting cast, Ross Compton (Ship's Cook Bucatar) is satisfyingly grumpy and superstitious, by turns. As the unflappable Ship's Hand Abramoff, Andrew Bosworth is believably cool and competent. Riles August Holiday (Ship's Hand Olgaren) does well with an underdeveloped character, and Cameron Austin Brown as Munir, the ship's lone Turk, plays the comedy well without it lapsing into unforgivable stereotype. As Ship's Hand Petrofsky, Nathaniel Kohlmeier overplays the lecherous, aggressive character a bit, leading to one of the few tonal issues in the play.

Herb Metzler's performance as Yorga is certainly strong, both before and after the revelations late in the play. Metzler does his best to establish a throughline for the character and mostly succeeds despite the late material for this character being somewhat weak. And it is certainly worth nothing that Metzler is devilishly smooth and compelling in these scenes.

Strange Cargo: The Doom of the Demeter runs through November 23, 2025, at City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Chicago IL. For tickets and information, please visit www.citylit.org or call 773-293-3682.