The Problem ★★★

A previous recipient of two Fringe First awards, Brian Parks has an obvious love of language, and in his play The Problem, the whippy dialogue keeps the action zipping along right out of the gate, as three men study the contents of each of their black executive folders before slamming them shut in unison.

ALL THREE: It’s a Problem.

MANNING: A huge one.

WILSON: Where did it come from?

SLATER: The land of the impossible!

MANNING: There’s no way this Problem could happen —

WILSON: It has!

From the outset it’s clear that the capital-P Problem is never going to be revealed. It’s a theatrical MacGuffin. Fair enough. Parks is far more interested in how the trio of similarly dressed middle-aged business executives each handles the stress of approaching professional disaster, and how they negotiate their interactions with the other two.

Unfortunately, the characters feel too interchangeable for too long. That may be the point — a comment on the soul-killing uniformity required to succeed in a corporation — but it’s not particularly engaging dramatically, despite the speedy pace created by Parks’ short, tight scenes, Margaret Perry’s excellent direction, Ariana Cardoza’s sharp sound design, and Carly Gilbreth’s effective lighting design.

Also unhelpful is that in this whirlwind of paranoia, we’re told there is immense pressure, but it feels self-generated by the three execs. Who and what are these men scared of, and why? There’s little sense of the external world; as a result, no threat feels that imposing, and the stakes feel too low. It’s like Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter, only without a sense of dread. And far chattier.

For many, the production’s velocity and its gregarious performances — by standout Matthew Boston, Brian Dykstra and Patrick Frederic — will be sufficiently entertaining, and there are some great lines, including this treasure: “Sometimes you have to hit the deer and move on.” But it can also be argued that The Problem has a sizable one: There’s little reason to care about the characters or their situation. And if the audience doesn’t care, that’s a problem.