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A CurtainUp Review
Threesome
By Charles Wright
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I think we can be too clever for our own good sometimes. I think we can talk ourselves into doing all kinds of strange things.— Rashid And why not? Why not talk yourself into doing things that are out of the ordinary? Interesting things can happen that way.— Leila |
L-R: Quinn Franzen, Alia Attallah and Karan Oberoi (Photo by Hunter Canning)
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In Threesome, a new play by Yussef El Guindi, a Generation X couple gets cold feet about a sexual adventure they've initiated with a stranger whom they've met at a party. This is a premise for offbeat comedy; and the show's initial half hour consists of sight gags and dialogue that's hip and funny, if sometimes a trifle lackluster.
Leila (Alia Attallah) and Rashid (Karan Oberoi) are brainy Americans of Egyptian heritage (she was born in Egypt, his forebears came from there). Leila is a writer; Rashid is a photographer. They've been a couple for several years but, at the moment, they're going through a rough patch; and Leila has convinced Rashid that the racy encounter of this play's title will be beneficial to their relationship. To make a trio, the two have recruited Doug (Quinn Franzen), who's game but too talkative for the role he's supposed to perform.
Playwright El Guindi is canny about withholding and dispensing expository information. Leila and Rashid are not really sexual adventurers; and Threesome isn't the old-fashioned sex comedy with up-to-date jokes that it appears to be at first. Rashid has misgivings about Doug touching his girlfriend (a fact that makes his initial consent to the threesome less than credible). Doug natters compulsively about his childhood and his current course of therapy. And Leila approaches group sex as a philosophical exercise, though the argumentative male characters won't let her finish the prefatory remarks she feels are necessary before she can dive into the task at hand.
Halfway through Act One, El Guindi's writing takes a turn toward Shavian disquisition and the loquacious characters reveal one improbable thing after another. Rashid and Leila haven't been on the same wave length since returning from a trip they took in 2011 to observe <&mdash> or, perhaps, be part of — the protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Something happened in their travels and, since candor isn't the couple's strong suit, they are incapable of addressing directly the tensions in their relationship. As Rashid says, the two "silently express how [they're] feeling via". . .very pregnant pauses.
Leila has written a book that is somehow related to the couple's experiences in Cairo, but she hasn't told Rashid what her manuscript is about. The book is on the brink of publication and Rashid wants to do the dust-jacket photography. Doug, who's also a photographer, let's slip that he has been hired by the publisher to photograph Leila for the cover art. In Act Two, when Leila and Rashid's big secret is finally in the open, Threesome becomes not only dark but wildly melodramatic.
Threesome raises a host of social issues, some current and others timeless, but none are addressed with depth or precision. Among the topics: the emotional impact of infidelity, casual sex, and rape; the persistence of double standards and misogyny in so-called post-feminist society; and the global effects of localized political upheaval. The abundance of nascent ideas swirling through the script makes Threesome feel diffuse and unfinished; and the playwright seems to strain for an analogy between the uprising in Tahrir Square and the relationships of his characters that never becomes clear.
Director Chris Coleman and the appealing cast keep the action moving at a velocity that disguises somewhat, for the duration of the performance, the implausible aspects of the script. The three actors have sufficient buoyance to make a number of banal jokes land respectably.
Playwright El Guindi has amassed numerous honors, including the 2012 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award, bestowed by the American Theater Critics Association. Threesome, which comes to New York from Portland Center Stage in Portland, Oregon, and ACT - A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle, Washington, has compelling moments, including an Act Two monologue, delivered by Franzen, that's certain to become a popular audition piece for actors. During the play's best moments, one can't help wishing that the playwright had been given another workshop or two in which to figure out exactly what Threesome is about.
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Threesome by Yussef El Guindi Director: Chris Coleman Cast: Alia Attallah (Leila), Quinn Franzen (Doug), and Karan Oberoi (Rashid) Scenic Design: Uncredited Costume Design: Alison Heryer Lighting Design: Peter Maradudin Sound Design: Casi Pasilio Production Stage Manager: Emily N. Wells Running Time: Two hours, including one intermission Produced by Portland Center Stage, Portland, Oregon, and ACT Theatre (A Contemporary Theatre), Seattle, Washington 59E59 Theaters, Theater A, 59 East 59th Street From 7/11/15;7 opening 7/22/15; closing 8/23/15. Tuesday – Thursday at 7 PM; Friday at 8 PM; Saturday at 2 PM & 8 PM; Sunday at 3 PM. Reviewed by Charles Wright at a July 21st press performance |
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