Neil and Alexis have broken up, but Neil just can’t seem to let go– neither of their joint-lease condo, nor of its co-lessor, who now has another equally proprietary boyfriend. Alex is likewise reluctant to relinquish her living quarters or sentimental memories, even when Neil’s attempts to assert his control of the situation escalate into abuse– as when he steals her keys and moves her possessions out behind her back. Add to the conflict Alex’ sexy sister Vicky to raise deep-seated sibling issues, and nice-guy Ray to stand by helplessly as the dynamic grows ever more volatile, and you have the perfect latter-day Kitchen-Sink Drama, a genre founded in 1956 on John Osborne’s Look Back In Anger and perpetuated by Angry Young British playwrights ever since.
Indeed, if Richard Zadjlic’s sordid soaper is any gauge, courtship practices among the proletariat have not changed in half a century. Alex is still the doormat spouse. Vicky, the predatory Other Woman. Ray, the know-nothing enabler. And Neil, the selfish, ruthless, foul-mouthed badass whom everybody appears to find simply irresistible. The play’s 1999 premiere at London’s Bush Theatre, a venue specializing in gritty underclass exposés (Tracy Letts’ Killer Joe made its professional overseas debut there), repudiates any suspicion of condescension on the author’s part toward the bleakness of his universe. But with Zadjlic devoting two hours to his explication of the destruction engendered by inertia, American audiences– presumably savvier regarding Ties That Bind– may grow impatient with the apparent inability of these clueless characters to get on with their lives.
Whether which side of the Atlantic, however, this is familiar turf to the Profiles company. Darrell W. Cox does another of his viscerally engaging angel-faced bully turns in the role of the self-obsessed Neil, while Joe Jahraus endows good-buddy Ray with a gentle-giant affability. Under Ken Mitten’s unobtrusive direction, Sara Maddox and Jenna Rabideaux– respectively, wimpy Alex and ballbusting Vicky– likewise redeem their stereotypical personae with poker-faced empathy and sleek-chic wardrobes. Dialect Coach Eric Armstrong keeps the cast’s accents plausibly anglophile, and Jahraus’ set design replicates career-couple decor in every detail, all making for a smooth ride on the road through marital dysfunction in our time.