HASHTAGS AND LOVE // A THEATRE REVIEW OF "MEN AND WOMEN TALKING LOVE AND SEX"
Men and Women Talking Love and Sex. For once the title says it all. John Paul Porter wrote, produced and directed this relevant play featuring three men and two women discussing matters of the heart and affairs of the loins. It’s not relevant to all (no play ever is), but certainly will be to the 30 something crowd that’s either on the prowl, dating, marrying or procreating.
#MAWTLAS and a "Selfie Gallery" are both signs that times are changing and phones/hashtags are becoming more a part of our everyday life. The first and second acts begin with a cute mini-scene of the characters reminding us to put our phones away, and even instructing us on how to shut them off before we do. We realize there are some conversations that should occur more intimately, one of them being the one that’s about to unfold before our eyes. It is not going to be over the cellular waves. It needs to happen face-to-face. Or five-faces-to-150 (the audience at Midtown's Davenport Theater).
The quick-paced dialogue was well-managed by the team of actors and reminded me at times of an Aaron Sorkin scripted show. A cast of five moves quickly on and off the stage in this no frills production. The sparse set consists of three archway doors which are versatile enough to set us in a bar or a house but made me think a few times I was lost at the Alamo. The number of props could be counted on one hand: beer bottles, laundry basket, computer keyboard, stack of scripts, and a bed sheet. Six or seven years pass and our storytellers remain in the same clothes throughout and though the set is very minimalistic it doesn't distract from the story at hand and allows us to look at some real issues that plague couples in our everyday busy lives.
MEN AND WOMEN TALKING LOVE AND SEX features a strong cast, including Nicolas Greco, a Blackwood native playing the fist-pumping, hip-thrusting part of Tom to the T. Zane Johnston’s Pete was funnily affable and awkward, even boisterous. Rounding out the tenure committee peanut gallery was Karen Stanion as Clarinda, an honest woman...when she needs to be; independent and sexy. Aaron Ballard played Annie, the sweet girl with a heart of gold and a dream she may not have shared with the one person who should have mattered most.
Good theater makes me further realize what theater is and can be. Sometimes it is sheer entertainment, designed to make you forget your worries and relish in the wonder that is something else. Sometimes it can be a dialogue with the audience in which the audience is provoked and entreated to think more deeply or differently about a theme. Sometimes, as is the case here, it is a simple yet specific example of life for certain characters in a certain moment, however brief or extended, a day or a decade. The more you see, the more you listen, the deeper your understanding will become. With this show, in this simple example, as you listen to Men and Women Talking Love and Sex, you might find both of your current understandings challenged. MAWTLAS is a decent play that creatively brings to the stage an accurate account of what it's like riding the up and down roller coaster of a relationship in today's world, helped and hindered by friends and careers, deadlines and dreams.
DEREK'S GRADE: B-
Written, Produced and Directed by John Paul Porter
Starring:Nicolas Greco, Zane Johnston, Karen Stanion, Ben Kahre, and Aaron Ballard
Final Thoughts: A realistic point of view for all the 30-something's out there watching more and more of their peers make the leap from adolescence to adulthood with marriage and family. Enjoyable but may fade away with the Pizza slice you have immediately after.
W. DEREK JORDEN is an actor currently living and working in New York City. He and his wife live on a Spaceship on the top of a building, which makes for some interesting dinner parties.