Playwright: Jesse Weaver
At: the side project, 1439 W. Jarvis
Phone: 773-973-2150; $10-$15
Through: Dec. 17
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
Gilbert and Sullivan’s frothy 19th-century operetta overtures greet audiences as they file in for Jesse Weaver’s world premiere play Sweet Pretty Love Jam at the side project. The Mikado’s overture is also played at length to cover a costume change.
Just why these Savoyards are conjured up in this cryptic play regarding incest is never fully explained. There is one line about The Pirates of Penzance’s Major General Stanley patter song, but that’s about it.
Audiences are also likely to be confused about the serious turn Weaver’s play makes toward the end. Sweet Pretty Love Jam starts out like a comedy of mentally unstable sitcom types getting on each other’s nerves, but ends like an issue-driven Lifetime cable TV movie.
June (Amanda Berg Wilson) feverishly writes in her diary, only to cross out large swaths later. Her younger brother, Gary (Weaver), has a penchant for dialing 911 when it isn’t warranted.
Reunited after a long separation and the unexplained deaths of their wealthy parents, they have to deal with the impending death of the family’s pet iguana. They then fixate on the handsome veterinarian Dr. Sugarman (Sean Bolger), who has a thick Bostonian accent (though he’s from Plymouth, Mass.).
These three form an uncomfortable love triangle, with both men professing love to June. The incest angle is actually meant to be a shocking surprise, even though Weaver hints at it early on.
Just what Weaver is trying to get at here as a playwright is unclear. It’s apparent he’s out to shock us with the ‘happy’ ending, but the premise and plotting of his play feels cooked up and phony. The clash of comic and dramatic styles also is an uncomfortable fit for the subject matter.
If Weaver’s work as a playwright is suspect, at least he plays the eccentric role of Gary to the hilt. The same goes for Bolger playing Sugarman. Bolger’s acting skills are much more honest and genuine than the unbelievably quick professions of love Weaver has written for him.
As June, Wilson does what she can with her underwritten character. Her revelation of why and how she tried to commit suicide just leaves an uncomfortable taste in your mouth, as does the entire confusing enterprise overseen by director Jimmy McDermott.
Sweet Pretty Love Jam aims to shock, but its mixed-up paths at getting there are not plotted out too well. Unlike Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance song, this play is not ‘a most ingenious paradox.’