Like any marriage, Theatre Bsmt’s latest production is characterized by a lack of sex and miscommunication
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Theatre Bsmt's production of One Good Marriage: that one, that one is a quirky little play.
The story unfolds as Stewart (Tyrell Crews) and Steph (Amy Dettling) are celebrating their first wedding anniversary, with the audience serving as their guests. The entire play is built around the couple telling the audience stories of how they met, their wedding, their honeymoon and the past year of their lives. The suspense builds as they foreshadow the tragedy that has befallen them, but they don't reveal it until near the end of the play.
Both Crews, as a nerdy librarian, and Dettling, as a frumpy English teacher, carry their roles well. They develop a convincing relationship with the many asides they share as they correct one another on the little details of their lives. The lines are constant, coming forth in a continuous stream of short, disconnected phrases that seem to layer upon one another. With so much dialogue, the play could be in danger of dragging, but kudos to Crews and Dettling for keeping up a good pace and not allowing themselves any indulgent pausing.
It's difficult to determine what playwright Sean Reycraft intended when writing One Good Marriage, as it's a slightly confusing mix of comedy and tragedy. The comedy works well, but the serious elements do not. Without giving away the ending, the "tragedy" that befalls the couple is so great that it falls into the realm of the unbelievable. As a result, it's hard to buy into the premise that drives the entire story. Moreover, while Crews and Dettling project an almost desperate need to share their stories, they never seem to communicate any real grief at their loss. Instead, the show seems to rely on jarring lighting changes to emphasize the "sad" parts of the story. It’s out of place with the simple production of the rest of the play.
One Good Marriage would benefit from more attention paid to production details. For example, there is nothing to really establish where the play takes place, and little is put into building a relationship between the couple and the audience. The characters wander around rather aimlessly at times.
Despite these flaws, One Good Marriage is a suspenseful tale that holds an audience's interest from start to finish.
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