They're every couple. It's everyone's story. And never before has familiarity been so downright uncomfortable.
Pen, Paint, and Pretzel's A Gaggle of Saints, the first of a pair of contemporary short plays performed last night in the Balch Arena Theater, is the jarring tale of a weekend "road trip" from Boston to Manhattan. Three BC couples- one of which narrates the story, seated side by side- drive down the coast, destined for a pious, albeit romantic, Mormon dance in New York City. Before the audience exhausts its tolerance for the doting storytellers, though, mild homophobic undertones erupt in an egregious display of bigotry. The formerly radiant luster never recovers its shine.
The 45-minute performance begins with harmless banter. John (Charlie Semine) and Sue (Sarah Marcus) interrupt one another playfully, completing each other's thoughts. Although both renditions of the weekend are told simultaneously, there is no conscious interaction between the couple. After six years of dating, however, their chemistry - and limitless affection - is evident.
"This is why He rested on the seventh day, because they can't get any better than this," John waxes poetically, describing his girlfriend's eveningwear. Sue herself is equally taken by her companion and the urban decor. "Nothing but possibilities," she says, "everywhere we looked. I really felt that, walking along."
If their intimacy is not nauseating enough, their history more than compensates. The two met at the school track, John wooing his long-time crush amidst heroic fisticuffs. With the now-ex-boyfriend draped across the hood of his car, John and Sue begin their life together. Senior year they both apply to BC and have been star-crossed ever since.
The play compensates for the lack of physical action with gripping shifts in rhythm and tone. It's obvious when the cuteness disappears: Semine of Cheap Sox fame allows direct access to his darker side as he and Marcus, a Balch Arena veteran, yo-yo the audience through their recent drama.
"It's making theater about telling a story," said TJ Derham, who directed both Saints and It Changes Every Year, the 15-minute follow-up performance. Derham first saw the play performed in London during his semester abroad. He was taken by its static intensity, or, as he put it, "how the power of just words can really grab somebody."
It Changes Every Year, the second play, follows Saints, sans intermission, and serves as an "after-thought" to the first disturbing tale. Get On With It: Two short plays that didn't have to happen has its final performance tonight at 8 p.m. Admission for the plays by Neil Labute and John Robin Baitz is free.
