Sean Hayes Plays a Haunted, Hunted Artist, and Other Characters, in ‘The Unknown’

True to its title, “The Unknown,” a new solo play written by David Cale, defies expectations from the get-go. A press release introduces the one-act piece with this sentence: “Desperate to cure his writer’s block, Elliott retreats to a remote cabin—only to discover he may not be alone.”“The Unknown” opens with Elliott, a New York-based theater artist—played in this world premiere, off-Broadway production by Sean Hayes, best known for starring in TV’s “Will & Grace” and, more recently, for co-hosting the hit podcast “Smartless,” but also a Tony Award-winning stage actor—recounting a brief stay in a rustic getaway upstate, owned by close friends. His first night is interrupted by the voice of an unidentified man, plainly just outside the house, singing a tune Elliott had written for a musical, setting the stage for a horror story with a haunted-house motif.But Elliott, shaken, hightails it the next morning, and the rest of the play unfolds back in the city, where the stranger soon turns up—in a gay bar that is one of the solitary writer’s few public haunts. The place is identified as Julius’s, a real-life destination where, as Elliott tells his new acquaintance, Keith—at least, that’s how the guy introduces himself initially—activists in the 1960s gathered to protest regulations that prohibited serving alcohol to homosexuals.Keith is soon revealed to be Joey, an actor who auditioned unsuccessfully for one of Elliott’s shows, and one of various characters that Elliott—Mr. Hayes, that is—inhabits as he spins a tale of intrigue. We also meet Jack, who may be either Joey’s identical twin or an alter ego contrived to do further mischief, as well as Larry and Chloe, the couple who own the cabin, who are understandably concerned as Elliott’s pursues a relationship with a probable stalker.Elliott remains anxious himself, but his fears are outweighed by artistic curiosity and, more than that, ambition: A thriller has fallen into his hands, ending his dry spell, and he must see it through. He even pitches the unfolding story to film producers, who suggest that Jude Law might play the twins. “I think the role of the writer might be better for him,” Elliott offers.Like Elliott, who is also an actor—he writes monologues, plays, screenplays, and songs as well—Mr. Cale is a restless multi-hyphenate: Best known for solo works that are often drawn from personal experience, he might have played the protagonist of “The Unknown” himself; in interviews the playwright has admitted his own brush with a borderline stalker inspired this latest effort.Mr. Hayes is better known outside theater circles, obviously, and “The Unknown” provides a fine showcase for his breezy comedic dexterity and unmannered empathy. Under Leigh Silverman’s taut direction, the actor expertly fields the shifts and connections between characters: His gum-chewing, goofy Joey and similarly gregarious but rather slicker Jack could indeed be twin brothers, or Jack could be Joey’s invention.Mr. Cale’s script is, in truth, not long on suspense; “The Unknown” is less a nail-biter than an introspective portrait of an artist, with some of the navel-gazing that description could suggest. Elliott’s personal and creative angst are documented in painstaking detail; a few particulars, such as his enduring infatuation for Larry, can seem a bit gratuitous. Happily, Mr. Hayes and Ms. Silverman bring the necessary buoyancy to the material, and at just 75 minutes, “The Unknown” doesn’t wear out its welcome—or it certainly won’t for fans of its sole performer and its accomplished creator.

Sean Hayes Plays a Haunted, Hunted Artist, and Other Characters, in ‘The Unknown’

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