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So far, so straightforward.
But its still the best part of my day.
What if we decide to become friends.
Grizzled and blunt, Paul has the air of a guy whos done beating around bushes.
What are we so afraid of?
Cromer has a singular gift for poignancy without sentimentality.
His worlds never become sloppy with feeling, but oh, how they ache.
Its great fuel for actors:Feel ten, show sevengoes the old Noh theater proverb.
(Thatproposal, it turns out, was only the teaser.)
He is, as always, matter-of-fact about it.
I have this poison.
As she stammers and protests, he insists: Hes not depressed.
Kennedy is incisive and darkly funny without ever being glib.
Paul takes his decision seriously, and so does she.
The pair are in it now.
But Pauls not the only one who wants something.
Ive got 27 voicemails saved on my phone … shes told Paul.
Theyre all from this one person … Could you like listen to the voicemails with me one more time?
And then Ill delete them.
Proposal, counter-proposal; death, life.
In different ways, both Paul and Katie are retreating not really from mundanity but from pain.
This is your give-up life!
Im always a bit leery of this particular brand of wordplay in the name of a show.
It lets us start out too comfortably:Ha.
There is, however, more charm toDirty Laundrythan its title might imply.
(Mays character is called Me.
It feels like a safe bet that Dratwa is dipping pretty heavily into autobiography.)
They are, in a sweet, shambling way, both the plays villains and its heart.
Heart because, well, we cant help but grow quite fond of them.
Neither, however, is unversed when it comes to failing bodies.
Active dying.Notice her lips turning blue.
Does the technicality make it more or less terrible?
But director Rebecca Martinez and scenic designer Raul Abrego have cluttered things up a bit.
The gestures accumulate without adding up.
The Counteris at Roundabout Theatre Company through November 17.
Dirty Laundryis at WP Theater through October 20.
