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Regional Reviews: Los Angeles The Boomerang Effect Matthew Leavitt's The Boomerang Effect isn't so much a play as five short plays, joined together by a common set, and a cute little quirk of storytelling. We get the first part of each of the five tales in order; the fifth play is allowed to reach its end, and then the show unwinds, returning to each of its plays in reverse order and completing them. There are a few things to recommend the show. The writing is engaging, and the twist in the order keeps us involved. The problem, though, is that the actual plots of the five plays don't have much going for them. The play opens with Couple One—Stephanie is giving newly 25-year-old Paul his annual birthday blow job ... while he receives "Happy Birthday" text messages. But there's a fly in the ointment of Paul's birthday bliss: Stephanie is disappointed that her boyfriend does nothing more with his life than bag groceries at Trader Joe's; she wants him to grow up and get his life together. Paul is annoyed by Stephanie's nagging and thinks she is simply frustrated from quitting smoking. But Stephanie's concern has a different source, one that you'll see coming long before she reveals it to Paul. After a quick blackout (the moment after Stephanie's big reveal), we are introduced to Couple Two. Renee and Andrew enter the bedroom in the heat of passion, and can't wait to take each other's clothes off. Their first problem is that Renee's high boots seem like they're glued on, and the passion dips when Renee insists Andrew help rip the damn things off. But they, too, have a bigger problem: Renee keeps wanting to talk during intimacy, while Andrew just wants to get on with being intimate. Couple Three is a gay couple—Nick and David. David, in his thirties, has been out of work for some time; Nick wants David to keep sending out resumes. In a way, David and Nick are reminiscent of Couple One—with the working half of the pair wanting the out-of-work one to stop spending his days playing computer games and to instead get on with his life. But, unlike Paul and Stephanie, Nick and David have a pretty serious intimacy issue: in this case, a complete and total lack of intimacy. Nick hasn't been interested in David sexually for some time. Couple Four isn't really a couple at all. It's an older businessman—David's father, in fact—on a business trip in Des Moines. He calls a pretty young blonde assistant to his hotel room on the pretense of asking her to do a few tasks for him as his usual assistant is unavailable. But the pretense disappears a few minutes in, when he rather boldly tells her, "Sleep with me or you're fired." She is offended and angry—and threatens to sue. But this is no spur-of-the-moment sexual harassment; Alexander has carefully selected his victim, and Julie finds it hard to resist his combination of bribery and threats. And, finally, Couple Five is a one-night stand. Janetta wakes in bed with a splitting headache and an "Oh my God, he's still here!" When she's being ill in the bathroom, Marcus wakes equally hungover, with a "Where the hell am I?" and his necktie around his forehead. Their problem is truly unpleasant: Janetta has been interested in Marcus for ages; Marcus, however, wants to run back home to his wife. Five stories, then. Had they been told in traditional order, there wouldn't be much worth watching here. Stephanie's reason for nagging Paul in the first scene isn't the only thing you'll see coming. The one-night stand story revolves around Marcus's attempts to retrieve from Janetta a necklace he gave her but needs back. (Didn't I see that in A Fish Called Wanda? A movie which also came to mind when Andrew was trying to remove Renee's boots in the second scene.) I can't believe anyone—except maybe Julie—genuinely thinks Alexander will give her the promised promotion (complete with window office and two interns) after they've done the deed. And one scene actually resolves with the couple physically fighting until the passion overwhelms them and they end up in each other's arms. While the overall plotting is trite, a lot of the writing is quite good. There are some genuinely funny jokes here (Marcus explains that last night, he was "drunker than a Kennedy family reunion") and several of the conversations sound real. When Paul and Stephanie argue over the relative merits of a "Happy Birthday" tweet as opposed to a "Happy Birthday" post on a Facebook wall, there's a humorous familiarity in it. And once or twice, something in one scene is referenced in another, as one of the players in each scene has a connection to one of the players in the next one. Most times, the references seem like throwaways, as just an excuse to tie the scenes together. But sometimes, there's a bit more going on here. I would love to see playwright Leavitt further explore those connections; it would make The Boomerang Effect more of a full play than a series of comic scenes. The Boomerang Effect, a guest production at the Odyssey Theatre, runs through April 29, 2012. For tickets and information, see www.boomerangeffectplay.com Village Green Productions presents The Boomerang Effect by Matthew Leavitt; Directed by Dámaso Rodriguez. Produced by Del Shores, Linda Toliver and Gary Guidinger. Scenic Design John Iacovelli; Lighting Design Jared A. Sayeg; Costume Design T. Ashanti Mozelle; Sound Design Doug Newell; Casting Rich Delia; Graphic Design Jessica Smith, Hive Creative Studio; Publicity Judith Borne; Stage Manager Deidre Works; Photographer Ed Krieger. Cast: |