THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS
AIRDATE: April 04, 2003
If I want watch
a sitcom, I turn on the TV. Even during wartime, I want more than mindless
psychobabble at the theater. As a friend put it after the nearly 3-hour
marathon of the Globe's new "Loves and Hours," "The show is
light on the Loves, heavy on the Hours."
This world
premiere smacks of masturbatory mid-life male fantasy. Playwright Stephen
Metcalfe is obviously confronting his mortality and sexuality. The centerpiece
of this unfunny comedy is a divorced man who addresses his angst to the
audience, as a parade of women waltzes on and off stage -- a smartass sister,
his late-life-lesbian ex-wife, a middle-age married neighbor who's having an
affair with his 20 year-old son, and his own two love interests, both of whom,
of course, find him irresistible -- a peer and a perky young thing the age of
his daughter. Oh yes, and his daughter's in love with an older man, while his
best friend just married a bimbette 1/2 his age. The May-December theme is
tiresome and overplayed, and the women are consistently cardboard foils for the
confused central character. Metcalfe s writing in the style of "Seinfeld,"
a show he refers to, along with a hotly debated movie, "Pretty
Woman," on which he was a contributing writer. In true sitcom style, no
dramatic moment can last more than a nanosecond, before it is immediately
swallowed up in a smarmy, sarcastic, trite or heavy-handed laugh setup.
Whenever anything too serious happens, drinking is unequivocally in order. This
is the same territory endlessly trod by playwright Pete Gurney -- privileged,
SUV-driving WASPs who have nothing better to do than imbibe, while they bed anything
that crosses their path.
There is no
redeeming or enlightening message here, certainly not about love. The points
that are earnestly, conspiratorially directed to the audience are
embarrassingly sophomoric. Overall, the play is too frivolous and inconsequential
for a theater the caliber of the Globe. It is wholly unworthy of the prodigious
talent of an internationally acclaimed director like Jack O'Brien. O'Brien, as
always, makes the best of a situation. He puts his competent cast through the
motions of making this a laugh-fest, for those willing to go along for the
puerile ride.
As I see it,
the only witty and urbane element of the evening is Robert Morgan's spare,
suggestive scenic design, moving panels combined with Sage Marie Carter's
projections, tempting views of San Diego locales. Overall, though, for
lower-cost midlife love advice, platitudes and laughs on cue, kick back and
turn on the tube.
I'm Pat Launer, for KPBS news.
©2003 Patté Productions Inc.