Colin (David Barlow) and Ruby (Tara Giordana) have a magnetic connection in Hot Fudge, a one-act by British playwright Caryl Churchill in an evening of one-acts called Sex, Grift and Death.
Potomac Theatre Project’s Sex, Grift and Death, an evening of one-acts by British playwrights Steven Berkoff and Caryl Churchill, captures the brutal nature of sex, financial survival, death, and illness. The lively cast uses a mixture of British and American accents that work for the sensibility of each piece.
In Lunch, by Steven Berkoff, Man (Bill Army) and Woman (Jackie Sanders) meet on a bench near a boardwalk. An undulating shoreline with an amusement park in the distance is projected (Scene Design and Projections by Mark Evancho) as a backdrop. The piece centers on both internal thoughts and external communication, all of which are spoken out loud. When the play opens, Man appears with a briefcase and sees Woman sitting on a bench:
Man: (Aside): Beautiful, oh she’s beautiful—who is she waiting for—no one for me--? Her neck as soft as a baby’s thigh—I could bite valleys of it. I could…
Woman: (Aside): Turn around? No … that’s an invitation—who is he—throbbing silently as a shadow behind me—burning holes in my back.
In Lunch by Steven Berkoff, Jackie Sanders and Bill Army are two strangers who embark on a dance of sexual attraction.
Under Richard Romagnoli’s direction, the actors translate the intense sexual pull into a physicalized dance of sorts. At one point, they do a little tango, and at another, he is on the floor and lifts her up on his feet—an angel soaring above him.
In the end, Woman grows talkative about her husband, who is consistent, thoughtful, and dependable. But the litany of his perfections is delivered with scorn, and soon she is worked into a frenzy at the “perfectness” of this life. In Berkoff’s piece, everyday life is expressed as an act of violence against the individual. What seems like a perfect life is actually stultifying and enraging.
Hot Fudge, by Caryl Churchill, has no reference to hot fudge, sundaes, or ice cream. Instead, it’s a piece about grifters. Matt (Gibson Grimm) and Sonia (Molly Dorion) gather in a pub with their parents, June (Danielle Skraastad) and Hugh (Christopher Marshall), who are ready for a pint and a good laugh. Written in 1989 (well before the introduction of security features on checks), Matt and Sonia have come up with the perfect scam: open multiple accounts at building unions and write checks against them before anyone catches on. But Sonia’s sister Ruby (Tara Giordano) wants out; she plans to go straight because she has a new boyfriend, Colin (David Barlow). Barlow and Giordano bring a manic enthusiasm to their roles that makes the underlying sadness and sense of failure even more poignant when, through a series of disruptions, the two characters discover neither are who they say they are. Yet their attraction and camaraderie remain, which brings hope for them.
Barlow plays a man who has difficulty with daily tasks, and Victoria Keith is his caretaker in “Getting There,” a segment of Here We Go by Churchill. Photographs by Stan Barouh.
Here We Go, also by Churchill, is linked together by three short sections that explore grief, death/afterlife and illness with Barlow playing the central character. In the first part, Here We Go, a group of mourners gather at a funeral. Cheryl Faraone’s direction keeps the pace moving as they sit, facing forward, and speak, their words often colliding. At random times, each comes forward to tell the audience how and when their death will occur. Luckily, we aren’t as prescient as these characters are.
In a clash of sound (Sound Design by Sean Doyle), the scene shifts to After, in which a man (Barlow) contemplates the possibility of an afterlife. Barlow’s talents as an actor are showcased in this piece: he moves dexterously through the text, which roller-coasters from heightened terror to resignation as he imagines all the possibilities of life after death:
Falling falling down the tunnel down the tunnel a tunnel a light a train a tube train aaah coming to kill me but I’m already dead is that right and ah here I am arrived somewhere and hello is that grandpa?
Barlow wrestles with an afterlife in “After,” a segment of Churchill’s Here We Go.
In Getting There, also by Churchill, Barlow plays an ill person with Victoria Keith as his caregiver. She moves him from one chair to another, dresses and undresses him, then reverses the cycle, but also repeats it. Without dialogue, soundscape or music, the silence of this piece accentuates the painstaking tasks of a caregiver. In doing so, Churchill boldly spotlights how these small moments speak volumes in the course of our lives.
Sex, aging, work, illness, death. In this evening of shorts, Berkoff and Churchill lay bare the quintessential parts of life and remind us of just how messy, confusing, difficult, and awe-inducing these fundamental inevitabilities are.
Potomac Theatre Project’s Sex, Grift and Death plays in repertory with Reverse Transcription at Atlantic Stage 2, 330 W. 16th St., through July 31. Tickets are $31.50 and $21.50 (students and seniors). For exact days and times, and to purchase tickets, visit www.PTPNYC.org.
