Men are idiots, but what can you do? You can't live with them, you can't live without them. The war between the sexes is over early in Jeffrey Sweet's attentive situation drama "With and Without," played with insight and honesty by the Blueberry Pond Theater Ensemble.
Sisterhood is powerful and when it's two against one, brotherhood's defender doesn't stand a chance.
But if you don't keep score, you'll slip into Sweet's carefully constructed window on the emotional mess that is adult relationships untethered by children, mortgages or, finally, love.
Just don't take sides in the first few minutes as Mark proclaims himself a sensitive man, his wife Shelly ponders the price of her nobility and ex-girlfriend Jill declares her own marriage over when her mate fails to show up for a vacation house-share.
Follow the bouncing Jill — a fast-talking series of facades hiding a scared, rejected woman — and the rhythm of her struggle will carry you through what could be a harrowing evening.
"With and Without" quickly finds the untidy heart of its characters and you won't like what you see. But unlike Neil LaBute, whose plays never let you forget this is a world run by small, brutal men, Sweet hooks his man with his own words and lets him wiggle in front of us.
Mark, it turns out, will cast his lot with Jill's never-seen husband. When he offers her no sympathy, she drives away and returns with Glen, a townie with his own ex-wife and story of how he snapped one day and robbed a bank.
Each of the characters eventually snaps in some important way. Who thought that two vulnerable couples could happily share a house for a weekend? Jill, who cannot exist in a disorderly and unplanned world for five minutes? Shelly, who thinks she's responsible for everyone? Mark, who can raise his voice and stomp around but can't have the final word?
Sweet, the company's playwright-in-residence, also directs the production. He uses the small Blueberry Pond stage to good effect. All the action takes place on the patio, around designer Hallie Flanagan Wolfe's wicker chairs and table. The close quarters — the theater at Cedar Lane Park in Ossining seats less than 50 — emphasize the choreography of the evening's duets and trios.
The workshop development of "With and Without" at Blueberry Pond results in uniformly strong performances from the company.
Michelle Best nearly makes Jill a sympathetic figure. That would have been a mistake, of course. She carries Jill's heavy emotional load, entering as the angry, betrayed woman and leaving as the uncertain wife of a certain age. Her bounce-back confidence with Glen is perfectly pitched, as is her dismay when Mark interferes.
Michael J. Muldoon avoids the TV trap of the hapless, hopeless male, though he rightly makes himself sympathy proof, too, by swinging from self-righteous prig to angry little boy. The more he tries to do the right thing, the louder he gets, the straighter he stands and the easier he bruises. When costume coordinator Jennifer Siciliano puts him in pajamas, a robe and slippers for a late-night confrontation with Jill, she gets it right.
As Shelly, Cynthia Granville, Blueberry Pond's artistic director, holds the emotional center of the threesome — she "took" Mark from Jill, became friends with her and feels responsible for her marriage. And Granville remains calm throughout; she lets you know an insult found its mark, but she also accepts apologies and moves on. Most effectively, she works the silences as if considering Mark's words for the first time.
Francis Callahan, on stage for only one important scene as Glen, captures that mix of insecurity and disbelief as a barroom guy who just might get lucky with one of the vacationers from the big city.
You're not going to like these people, though you'll want to know what happens next. Sweet and his ensemble keep the drama personal and the preaching to a minimum. The decision makes "With and Without" an evening worth sharing with friends. |
