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| Ciaran Crawford & Leda Uberbacher in "Scenes from an Adultery" (photo: Andrew Brilliant/Brilliant Pictures) |
New Rep Theatre's last production of its regular season,
the world premiere of “Scenes from an Adultery” by Ronan Noone
(whose play “Second Girl” was produced this past season by
Huntington Theatre Company) is all about secrets and keeping them. Or
not. Having to keep them can be the beginning of the end for a
relationship, either within or outside marriage. It's not a novel
story, adultery and its consequences. Noone takes a new spin on the
age-old custom of circulating rumors true and untrue (or, as one
neighborhood gossip used to put it, “tillage”, as in digging up
dirt). Over the course of a scant seventy minutes, the playwright
gradually reveals some of the inherent pitfalls in spreading the
word. Or not. The consequences of keeping secrets or revealing them
may be treacherous.
Where virtually nothing happened in “Second Girl”, a
great deal happens in this play, though most of it occurs offstage, a
problematic approach in theater. In a neighborhood pub, Gasper
(Ciaran Crawford) reveals to his mate Tony (Peter Stray) that he
suspects a mutual friend has been, well, naughty, in so many words (a
goodly number of them naughty as well). Tony's wife Lisa (Leda
Uberbacher) becomes involved in their subsequent discussions,
eventually discovering what a tangled web they all have woven. There
is a great deal of dialogue about Dean and Corrine, whom we never
meet. Suffice it to say that, by the time their respective diatribes
are over, much previously interred info has been unearthed, and
psyches somewhat shattered. Truth when outed can be stranger than
repressed friction.
For such a brief work, it's rather a slow set of
reveals, and there's a lot of talk before some final onstage action.
As ably directed by Bridget Kathleen O'Leary, the actors struggle to
hold our interest, even if their parts are unevenly written. Each
character pretty much plays the same notes throughout almost a half
dozen scenes over a ten week period. The creative team, notably Set
Designer Janie E. Howland (who created three set pieces, a living
room, a pub, and a dining room), Costume Designer Molly Trainer,
Lighting Designer Christopher Brusberg and Sound Designer David
Remedios, have all helped to establish the appropriate milieu for all
the verbal gymnastics. Originally set in the U.S., the casting led to
its relocation to the U.K., as Crawford is from Ireland, Stray from
London, and Uberbacher from Edinburgh. While it illustrates the
universality of the work, it sometimes makes for some difficult
accents to absorb.
The roles these folks play make for somewhat unpleasant
characters as the play evolves, and hardly the most mature
acquaintances to acquire, but if realistic dialogue and intelligent
conversation are your thing, this will be right up your alley.
It's the product of New Rep's Next Voices Playwriting Fellowship
program. Roone himself states that his play is about limits and
boundaries: “the point wasn't always about what they read or saw,
but how it made them feel about themselves...a pinch of guilt...once
they questioned the trust, it had the potential to be very
explosive... the effect infidelity may have on others, the ones not
directly involved...causing a ripple, then creating a larger wave”.
It's rather like watching someone inevitably sink into quicksand,
reminiscent of the famous Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening
Post cover about gossip coming back to haunt the first monger.
While it's described in the program as a comedy, there's not much to
elicit laughter (the audience at the performance attended was
unusually unresponsive). In fact, the play deals with some serious
issues such as complicity by silence, sinning by omission and when
damaging information is better shared or withheld, but it stands as
an incomplete play. While it flirts with such topics, they're never
quite consummated.
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