The Nether Is Prepared to Undermine All Your Arguments About Virtual Pedophilia

Third Rail's production of the play doesn't allow you to arrive at easy answers.

It's hard not to empathize with the pedophile in The Nether—at least a little bit.

As Third Rail's production opens, the pedophile in question, Sims (Michael O'Connell), sits in a bleak interrogation room.

"I am sick and have always been sick and there is no cure," he pleads to Detective Morris (Chantal DeGroat). "I have taken responsibility for my illness. The only way I can do this is because I've created a place where I can be my fucking self."

As he says this, the barely noticeable screen in front of the interrogation room fuzzes out like an old TV, and the blacked-out set stage right of the interrogation room illuminates. The cold futuristic interrogation room gives way to an ornate space with golden jacquard wallpaper, a chandelier, a stained-glass door, and thin, white trees.

We're now in the place where Sims can be himself: the Hideaway.

The Hideaway is one virtual reality world among many that form "The Nether," which is basically the VR version of the internet. Sims created and runs the Hideaway, a lush, Victorian-era paradise that draws in guests for its Old World beauty that the vegetation-scarce non-virtual world can no longer match. And because it's a place where they can molest and ax murder children.

The play cuts back and forth between the Hideaway and the interrogation room by way of the screen, which is either a thin veil over the interrogation room or has the Hideaway's wallpaper projected over it—a seriously cool effect. Morris is trying to get the location of the Hideaway's server in order to shut it down, which is why she's interrogating Sims along with another man who has spent a lot of time in the Hideaway, a married science teacher in his 60s named Doyle (Del Lewis).

The scenes in the Hideaway depict the investigations of Woodnut (Joshua Weinstein), the undercover agent whose work is cited in Morris' interrogation. When he logs into the Hideaway as a client, he "visits" with Iris (Agatha Olson), one of the virtual children who works there. Morris's objections to the Hideaway seem based on its verisimilitude, so seeing Olson (who is actually a young girl) playing jacks with Woodnut or talking to Sims about birthday parties—all the while knowing what goes on behind closed doors—definitely gets at the visceral creepiness of the whole situation.

But The Nether isn't a play that allows you to arrive at easy answers. Sims argues that the Hideaway keeps him from molesting non-virtual children; Morris argues that it "fosters a culture of legitimization." This opens up an abyss of speculation about morality, identity, reality and whether or not there can be a "life without consequence," which is essentially the Hideaway's motto. What's more, O'Connell as Sims is charismatic and likable, Weinstein as Woodnut is wide-eyed and giddy, and Lewis as Doyle is introspective and pitiable. It's hard not to believe them when they profess their good intentions, or to mark any of them off as just some out-there creep. Even the assumptions behind Morris's seemingly steadfast beliefs quickly fall apart when she is faced with the moral ambiguity of Sims and Doyle.

The play only gets more complicated as it progresses, and the ending feels as if it has fewer answers than the beginning. Even though the seemingly answerless moral experiment is part of what makes The Nether exciting, its implications don't feel entirely abstract or even all that hypothetical: something like The Nether, and the Hideaways that come with it, seems like a very possible future.

SEE IT: The Nether plays at Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave, thirdrailrep.org. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, and 2 pm Sunday, through Oct. 22. $25-$42.50.

Willamette Week

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.