Theater Review—

Crisp Directing & Good Performances

Of ‘Love And Marriage’

By Julie Stern

This year The Town Players of Newtown have elected to close out the season with a quintet of light, clever, short plays by well known playwrights, tied together loosely by the theme of love, marriage, and “more.” This is the stuff of anthologies: ensemble pieces that aspiring actors love to sink their teeth into and clearly, the nine performers and the three directors involved in this current project have relished the opportunity.

“Sure Thing,” the curtain opener by David Ives, has been done at The Little Theater before, as part of his award-winning I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. The skit  is built around a chance encounter between Janine Pixley and Aaron Szlinsky as two lonely singles. The conceit is that each time one of the them makes a gauche remark, a bell rings, and he or she is given another chance to say something more ingratiating. Eventually, after many ding-dongs, the pair are able to walk off into the sunset together.

In “Barry, Betty and Bill,” by Rene Taylor and Joseph Bologna, Betty has left her cheating husband, Bill, for a romantic getaway weekend with the newly widowed pediatrician, Barry. When Bill shows up to get his wife back, she isn’t interested. He persists, however, while Christopher Bird, as  poor Barry, is caught in the middle, making wonderful deadpan faces of sympathy, concern and alarm.

In “Miss You,” by David Auburn, best known for his drama, Proof, cell phones play a crucial part. When Man 1 calls to tell Woman 1 that he misses her so much, he has decided to come home from his business trip early,  she puts him on hold, so that she can tell Man 2 how much she enjoyed their liaison last night, and could they possibly do it again tonight.

The gimmick is that Man 2 is played by the same actor as Man 1. Steve Hoose stands on stage and simply changes his voice and expression, becoming the cool playboy who really isn’t interested in more than a one night stand; then he reverts to being the devoted husband, anxious not to miss his plane so he can get back to his sweetie.

Nancy Gordon then becomes Woman 2, the wife of Man 2, letting him know what she thinks of his behavior in no uncertain terms.

After an intermission, audiences are treated to a Christopher Durang play, “Wanda’s Visit,” in which a couple whose 13-year marriage is teetering on the edge of boredom, are caught up short by a visit from the husband’s high school sweetheart.

Sarah Farkas (who played Betty in the earlier play) is initially angry and jealous about the approaching arrival of the girl her husband (Christopher Bird again) describes as having been a knockout. However, Pam Meister, as Wanda, turns out to be a kind of rude, lewd, suicidal, criminally insane sort of monster, who terrifies both of them, while gaily announcing that she wants to move east and live next door to them permanently.

The production ends with a wistfully funny piece by Robert Anderson, “I’m Herbert,” from his 1960s play, You Know I Can’t Hear You When The Water’s Running. John Pyron and Patricia Reese are an elderly, Golden Pond type couple, in what is a third marriage for each of them. Knotted up in a tangle of senior moments, they bicker over which memory took place where and when and with which spouse.

Crisply directed and well performed, the playlets afford an enjoyable and entertaining evening.

(Performances continue weekends until December 1 at The Little Theatre on Orchard Hill Road in Newtown.

Call 270-9144 or visit Danbury.org/TownPlayers.org for details and reservations.)