Home, I’m Darling

Home, I’m Darling by Laura Wade

Johnny and Judy are a contemporary married couple who have made the conscious decision to live their lives as if it is the 1950s (as much as possible - Johnny does need a cell phone for work, and they have a laptop hidden in a cabinet). Their friend Marcus wishes sometimes that his wife Fran would get into the more domestic lifestyle, though she doesn’t really have it in her. Judy’s mother Sylvia - a former feminist who lived on a commune - is absolutely flummoxed by their agreement. However, when it turns out that all is not well in paradise, Judy and Johnny are forced to confront their feelings about the 50s and about each other.

I found this play generally pretty charming, but I’m not sure I was really able to get invested in the stakes, as I really identified more with her flabbergasted mother than with the main character. A formerly high-powered executive who had opted to turn herself into a domestic near-recluse who managed to miss out on huge news stories like the death of Castro was simply not someone I could really wrap my mind around. The central question ends up being about how to be honest with ourselves and with each other within a relationship, and that’s nice, but I am not sure this was the particular road to that conversation that is right for me. 

Morning After

Morning After by Zoe Senese-Grossberg

Continuing my dive into plays that poke and prod the grotesque world in which we currently find ourselves, Morning After gives us a group of friends waking up after a night of HARD partying. Several of them have little to know memory of the previous night’s events - due in no small part to having drunk the blue stuff in the parrot-shaped bowl. Bad idea.

The first to awaken is Nick, who is suddenly panicked because he is going to miss his flight - however his friends assure him that it has been canceled and he’ll have to reschedule - don’t worry about it. As the friends awaken, reconstruct the night before, and enjoy David’s eggs Benedict, the circumstances of the world beyond their party start to take shape. All of their parents have already departed the country and they are planning to leave in the next few days to meet them. However, the government may shut down all international flights. Or maybe they’ll be able to connect through Canada. Or maybe not. And maybe your citizenship may be called into question… 

We never truly get the skinny on whatever global shift is happening, but the swift and devastating effects of governmental actions become all too present. The conversation is fun and charming - I particularly loved the running device of imagining themselves in other time periods, and the payoff of that device is unexpectedly poignant. I really appreciated the relationships and the banter, as well as the cleverly unsettling atmosphere doled out by little bits of information along the way. Honestly, it reminded me a bit of another play (that will remain nameless) that I think is attempting to have a similar sort of conversation, but does not do it nearly as effectively. 

2:22

2:22 by Danny Robins

My huuuuuuuuuusband has gotten particularly interested lately in how theatre can create genuine scares, so that has pushed me to want to read more “scary” plays… and this was the first that bubbled to the top. The play centers around the parents of a young child and their two friends who have come over for a dinner party. The father has been out of town for the last few days, and while he was gone, spooky things have been happening at home, though no one seems to believe our stalwart mother. But since the spooky things have been happening each night at 2:22am, they decide to have everyone stay up to see if they can confirm or deny her experiences.

That’s kind of all I can say about the play without giving away the clever conceits and genuine chills. It’s well written - I liked the characters, I enjoyed the humor that provided a familiar foundation for the sense of unease that permeates the whole play.

This would be a fun show to do - and it doesn’t really require a ton of special effects or anything, which can often be a barrier to producing a “scary” play. Maybe a nice little October project one of these days!

Girls Kill Nazis

Girls Kill Nazis by James Kopp

These days, I am finding myself in what appears to be my “theatre that wants to burn everything to the ground” era. So I was pleased when searching NPX for anti-fascist comedies I came across this play. It takes place in a not-too-distant speculative future in which the New American Nazi Party has come to power, and things are going just as well as you think they might. We meet a book club made up of four average women in their 20s-50s, and it turns out pretty quickly that there is much more to this book club than To Kill a Mockingbird and 1984. In fact, these four women were brought together by their shared interest in killing nazis.

When the latest new accords require installation of a federal official in every town, the upper floor of their library is selected for the offices, which does not appeal to this group of women (or their new member Bob… who has happily watched the movie of every book on their list).

I found the play emotionally satisfying as someone who is particularly angry and frustrated at this moment in time, though as the title suggests, it’s probably just a little too heavy handed to be reasonably produced in most places - and certainly not at a college. But it was a kind of fun read. And I have to say, Bob’s quirk of “reading” everything by watching it was very charming. And honestly, any story where the librarian is the hero… I’m in.