Ostensibly about chronic fatigue syndrome and the virus that may or may not cause it, Chronic puts one woman's dis-ease under the theatrical microscope, along with various other pathologies of modern life. At first Petra seems fairly neurotic -- a Woody Allen character refracted through George F. Walker. But as Griffiths examines the psychological, social, and sexual dimensions of Petra's experience in her desperate search for a cure, as well as her medical treatments, her strange dreams, and the peculiarities of her post-industrial workplace, the stage becomes an environmental petrie dish, a fascinating experiment in the ecology of illness.
