Tom and Tina are the two tangling in this tawdry tale, but so do Tom and Tim, not to mention Teddy.

Tina (Corrie VanAusdal) and Tom (Chris Nielsen) are a working-class couple who own a 15,000-pig megafarm just upstream from Washington DC. Tim (Kyle Browning, former Spectrum editor) is a juvenile on leave from detention who usually hangs with Tina in the kitchen, but mainly his herculean task is to be counting each and every pig on the farm, because for some reason knowing that exact number is all-important to Teddy (Matt Rapport), the EPA inspector, also known as "the G-Man."

And that pretty much sums up the new play by Greg Kotis, Pig Farm, now on extended run at Next Space, 512 East 18th Street, downtown. If you loved Urinetown: The Musical which Kotis co-wrote, unfortunately there’s little comparison in quality, even though his first play was about pee and this one’s about poop, which seems to promise more substance.

There are a couple of hot make-out scenes in Pig Farm, between Tom’s wife Tina, and young Tim. There’s some fighting and blood and dying, then dying; then, when you least want to expect it, particularly redundant dying. It’s all alliteration, reiteration, bopping, whopping, buying, crying, selling and yelling - yet surprisingly no actual pigs are harmed in the production, or even seen.

Kotis has said that this play, like his earlier work, is concerned with the behavior of humans when they’re having a riotously good time, but with tons of fecal-thick karmic sludge about to slam the fan. Thus like the swine they’re married to and must account for, Tom Tina Tim and Teddy snort and squeal and squirt all the way to the inevitable slaughter. "I’M A MAN!!" shouts Tim to Tina, slyly backpedaling a bit of moonwalk.

During a torrid moment of reflection, someone opines that it might have worked out better if the pig farm had been kept small and manageable, the way it used to be done. But the audience knows this is absurd. Caring, thoughtful living would probably annihilate stealing, adultery, bribery and all the other peccadilloes that make cable TV fun, and Pig Farm over the top.

Next Space is a very cozy venue not far from Grinders in the Crossroads District. It’s small, but the audience is comfortably close to the action, and the stage is well-set (95% recycled materials), with a stunningly realistic kitchen, though a spatula seems out of place on top of the fridge instead of next to the stove.

Refreshments including beer (at least for Pig Farm), water and lemonade are available in the lobby, and the witty program even has instructions on the back for folding it into a fan, so you or your date can flutter and be cool.

The final three shows will be at 8pm Thursday, Oinktober 4, and Saturday; and 3pm this Sunday afternoon. Tickets are twelve dollars.

(http://www.myspace.com/pigfarmkc)

Copyright 2007 Metropolitan Community College