To be blunt about it, I've never thought much of Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy as a play, but I'm always willing to change my mind about these things. So I went to The Actors Company Theatre revival at the Beckett fully prepared to see the error of my understanding.
Sorry to say that I came away thinking less of the work now than I did then. I'm further confirmed in my belief that Durang -- who I'll always acknowledge can come up with a drop-dead funny line as well as a full-out funny situation -- is not a playwright so much as he is a sketch writer.
When I first saw Beyond Therapy in 1981, I concluded it was a series of skits from which Durang had no idea how to extract himself. Then I had the same response to Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, which begins with as hilarious a stand-up routine as you'd hope to find and quickly collapses when it attempts to turn into a play.
Since that experience, I've had the same reaction to his works, including last year's Tony-winning Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. The only exceptions in my estimation are Betty's Summer Vacation, which seems to be the closest he's come to actually writing an honest-to-Pete play, and Sex and Longing, which I skipped.
In the sequence of Beyond Therapy routines, the properly named Prudence (Liv Rooth) has answered an ad the sexually conflicted Bruce (Mark Alhadeff) placed and meets him in a restaurant apparently called Restaurant (meant to be a joke, I think). Nervous, Bruce immediately begins to make all the wrong comments, including one about Prudence's breasts and another about his live-in male lover.
The introductory tete-a-tete a disaster that includes their dousing each other with water, the two repair to two subsequent scenes in which Prudence and Bruce see their psychotherapists--the sex-mad Stuart (Karl Kenzler) in her case, the dithering and stuffed-animal-clutching Charlotte (Cynthia Darlow) in his.
As Durang plots it ("plotz" might be a better way of describing the duration), Bruce and Prudence meet again and begin to see a future in each other that's threatened by subsequent encounters with Stuart and Charlotte. Their idyll is further undermined by Prudence's dining with Bruce at his place, where brooding boyfriend Bob (Jeffrey C. Hawkins) is present and eventually talking on the phone to his unseen mother. And then there's a Restaurant dinner at which all five gather, with waiter Andrew (Michael Schantz), another of Charlotte's patients (she keeps referring to them as "porpoises") as their server.
The major problem with Beyond Therapy is hinted at in the title. Durang is having his way with analysis, analysts and analysands. He's put two supposed analysts on view who are crazier than their analysands. Unfortunately, when the dark comedy opened 33 years ago, mocking therapeutic practice as a comic ploy was already wearing a beard. Imagine how tired it is now as material for belly laughs. Not only doesn't it tickle the funny bone when Stuart and Charlotte enter, but Durang insists on keeping them around for laughs that won't come.
Stuart continues stalking Prudence with actions that, were this real life, would have him rapidly drummed out of the American Psychological Association. Charlotte repeatedly substitutes words for what she wants to say and then runs through a sort of word association game to find the one she means. She's so addled that when she's reminded Bruce is homosexual, she's surprised because, she says, "He doesn't lisp." Of course, it's all meant as Durang's comic exaggeration, but you still want to shout, "Spare us."
Through their getting-to-know-you tribulations, Prudence and Bruce--who as written could both use the ministrations of a true professional--remain not so much three-dimensional characters as two-dimensional pawns. She thinks she knows what she wants in a man and begins to think it might be Bruce, even though he keeps crying in her presence, something she maintains she doesn't want in a man.
In short, as Durang's two-act, nine-scene exercise draws to a close, they're as baffled as they were when they met. Supposedly, they have to be in the mad, mad world Durang creates, but the impression remains they haven't progressed due to their being stick figures in a handful of skits and not figures in a play.
There's another wrinkle in Scott Alan Evans's production. Beyond Therapy takes place in the time it was written, which means that Durang, who does have a knack for topical comedy, makes many references that were pertinent at the time. Evans is right not to attempt updating the piece by changing things, but his correct decision can't help but backfire.
Look, nothing dates a play faster than this type of name-dropping. Mentions of Plato's Retreat, the movie Sunday Bloody Sunday and the play Equus may take more than a few seconds for patrons to recognize--precious seconds detracted from concentration on the action. I don't think I'd heard the name Kate Millett since the '80s, but here it is. Maybe a program glossary is in order identifying, for example, Millett as a militant feminist of the era.
Director Evans tries his best to get around these obstacles. He's drawn committed and sympathetic performances from all his players, if not the kind that get audience members yukking it up. Rooth and Alhadeff bring as much comic pathos to Prudence and Bruce as they can. Darlow is often genuinely amusing as Charlotte, whereas poor Kenzler can do very little to make the unpleasant Stuart worth abiding. Hawkins has similar trouble with jealous Mama's-boy Bob. Schantz's waiter and his late arrival serve as a tonic.
In doing what he can to liven the proceedings, Evans has the actors dance like disco patrons while changing Thomas Cariello's nicely functional set from scene to scene. They boogie to Top 40 hits such as Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart" and Michael Sembello's "Maniac," which was a sensation in 1983 when Beyond Therapy had already opened and shuttered on Broadway.
Granted, there are several genuinely risible lines in Durang's play, one of which brings up missionary work in Ghana. You have to respond to that one and to moments when, for instance, Darlow wonders if she's at all sexy to a patient. Nevertheless, at this point Beyond Therapy is beyond reviving.
Sorry to say that I came away thinking less of the work now than I did then. I'm further confirmed in my belief that Durang -- who I'll always acknowledge can come up with a drop-dead funny line as well as a full-out funny situation -- is not a playwright so much as he is a sketch writer.
When I first saw Beyond Therapy in 1981, I concluded it was a series of skits from which Durang had no idea how to extract himself. Then I had the same response to Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, which begins with as hilarious a stand-up routine as you'd hope to find and quickly collapses when it attempts to turn into a play.
Since that experience, I've had the same reaction to his works, including last year's Tony-winning Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. The only exceptions in my estimation are Betty's Summer Vacation, which seems to be the closest he's come to actually writing an honest-to-Pete play, and Sex and Longing, which I skipped.
In the sequence of Beyond Therapy routines, the properly named Prudence (Liv Rooth) has answered an ad the sexually conflicted Bruce (Mark Alhadeff) placed and meets him in a restaurant apparently called Restaurant (meant to be a joke, I think). Nervous, Bruce immediately begins to make all the wrong comments, including one about Prudence's breasts and another about his live-in male lover.
The introductory tete-a-tete a disaster that includes their dousing each other with water, the two repair to two subsequent scenes in which Prudence and Bruce see their psychotherapists--the sex-mad Stuart (Karl Kenzler) in her case, the dithering and stuffed-animal-clutching Charlotte (Cynthia Darlow) in his.
As Durang plots it ("plotz" might be a better way of describing the duration), Bruce and Prudence meet again and begin to see a future in each other that's threatened by subsequent encounters with Stuart and Charlotte. Their idyll is further undermined by Prudence's dining with Bruce at his place, where brooding boyfriend Bob (Jeffrey C. Hawkins) is present and eventually talking on the phone to his unseen mother. And then there's a Restaurant dinner at which all five gather, with waiter Andrew (Michael Schantz), another of Charlotte's patients (she keeps referring to them as "porpoises") as their server.
The major problem with Beyond Therapy is hinted at in the title. Durang is having his way with analysis, analysts and analysands. He's put two supposed analysts on view who are crazier than their analysands. Unfortunately, when the dark comedy opened 33 years ago, mocking therapeutic practice as a comic ploy was already wearing a beard. Imagine how tired it is now as material for belly laughs. Not only doesn't it tickle the funny bone when Stuart and Charlotte enter, but Durang insists on keeping them around for laughs that won't come.
Stuart continues stalking Prudence with actions that, were this real life, would have him rapidly drummed out of the American Psychological Association. Charlotte repeatedly substitutes words for what she wants to say and then runs through a sort of word association game to find the one she means. She's so addled that when she's reminded Bruce is homosexual, she's surprised because, she says, "He doesn't lisp." Of course, it's all meant as Durang's comic exaggeration, but you still want to shout, "Spare us."
Through their getting-to-know-you tribulations, Prudence and Bruce--who as written could both use the ministrations of a true professional--remain not so much three-dimensional characters as two-dimensional pawns. She thinks she knows what she wants in a man and begins to think it might be Bruce, even though he keeps crying in her presence, something she maintains she doesn't want in a man.
In short, as Durang's two-act, nine-scene exercise draws to a close, they're as baffled as they were when they met. Supposedly, they have to be in the mad, mad world Durang creates, but the impression remains they haven't progressed due to their being stick figures in a handful of skits and not figures in a play.
There's another wrinkle in Scott Alan Evans's production. Beyond Therapy takes place in the time it was written, which means that Durang, who does have a knack for topical comedy, makes many references that were pertinent at the time. Evans is right not to attempt updating the piece by changing things, but his correct decision can't help but backfire.
Look, nothing dates a play faster than this type of name-dropping. Mentions of Plato's Retreat, the movie Sunday Bloody Sunday and the play Equus may take more than a few seconds for patrons to recognize--precious seconds detracted from concentration on the action. I don't think I'd heard the name Kate Millett since the '80s, but here it is. Maybe a program glossary is in order identifying, for example, Millett as a militant feminist of the era.
Director Evans tries his best to get around these obstacles. He's drawn committed and sympathetic performances from all his players, if not the kind that get audience members yukking it up. Rooth and Alhadeff bring as much comic pathos to Prudence and Bruce as they can. Darlow is often genuinely amusing as Charlotte, whereas poor Kenzler can do very little to make the unpleasant Stuart worth abiding. Hawkins has similar trouble with jealous Mama's-boy Bob. Schantz's waiter and his late arrival serve as a tonic.
In doing what he can to liven the proceedings, Evans has the actors dance like disco patrons while changing Thomas Cariello's nicely functional set from scene to scene. They boogie to Top 40 hits such as Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart" and Michael Sembello's "Maniac," which was a sensation in 1983 when Beyond Therapy had already opened and shuttered on Broadway.
Granted, there are several genuinely risible lines in Durang's play, one of which brings up missionary work in Ghana. You have to respond to that one and to moments when, for instance, Darlow wonders if she's at all sexy to a patient. Nevertheless, at this point Beyond Therapy is beyond reviving.