Book Title:  In the Eyes of God

Author:  Raul Sanchez Inglis

Publishing Company:  Talonbooks (www.talonbooks.com)

Year:  2007

# of Pages: 144

ISBN #:  978-0-88922-561-9

$17.95 Canada

$17.95 USA

2 ½ stars 

Reviewer:  Deborah Ground Buckner 

This play takes the reader into the sordid world of high power Hollywood.  Two agencies do battle for the representation of an up-and-coming screenwriter, Edward Foster.  On one side is UAA, headed by Julius, who is hospitalized as the pressures of his work have finally taken their toll.  In his absence, his underlings Richard Tench and George Fargus, attempt to demonstrate their ability to wield the power necessary to keep their agency on top. 

Enter Linne Callow, a long-time, seen-it-all, done-it-all, agent out to prove she can conquer in a man's world.  Her assistant, Judi Neville, is just as ruthless, announcing at her interview, “I want your job.”  They wrestle Foster away from the rival agency, and then the true battle begins as Foster finds himself slapped back and forth in the competition.  He plays out his downward spiral by taking his frustrations out on his wife, Andrea. 

The play teems with vulgarity; it is hard to find a single line without a four-letter word.  Gratuitous sexual references, high crimes and misdemeanors permeate the plot, along with virtually every cliché about power and its uses and abuses ever uttered.  One can almost hear J.R. Ewing of Dallas or Blake Carrington of Dynasty  speaking the same words.  The characters are all so alike—intentionally so—that it is hard to care about the efforts of characterization. 

There may be attempts at humor within the pages of this play, but none grow to fruition.  Instead, it is a dirty story of dirty people in a dirty world where no one merits sympathy and no one's rise or downfall really matters.