Lungs

Thinking about going to a play, but can't make up your mind? When it's late in a run and I've missed the opening, I'm just like you, trying to decide with the clock ticking. What to do?

As a critic, you generally try to steer clear of the reviews for a play you're considering covering, not wanting to be influenced by the attitudes and language of your colleagues. So as the reviews came in, I glanced at them, but nothing more. But so much positive attention had been paid to Duncan Macmillan's new play Lungs now receiving its world premiere at the Studio Theatre and getting ready to close - it's been extended to 10/23 - I had to make a decision.

First stop Studio Theatre's website, where I read the synopsis, an interview of the two-member cast, with Brooke Bloom & Ryan King, and another of the playwright. I had seen Ms. Bloom's outstanding performance in Becky Shaw (for which she won a Barrymore Award) and am familiar with the work of Aaron Posner who is one of the top directors in the DC-area, particularly with new or newly reconceived plays. On the face of it, Ms. Bloom's characters are as different as night and day, so it would be fun to see her considerable range expanded. And Mr. Posner usually works with a fully loaded directorial palette. How would he tell his story in a minimalist setting? I was intrigued.

Next, I went to the DC Theatre Scene, where under "Their Reviews," you can quickly and conveniently read most everything that's been published or posted on an ongoing play, including mine sometimes! This one opened several weeks ago so I had plenty to work with. I digested six, well-written reviews and an equally insightful interview by DCTS with the playwright. You can read the gist of the plot and characterization there, but suffice it to say it's about a young upwardly mobile couple, discussing whether to have a baby, in particular, and matters of commitment, in general, while they probe each other's Worldviews with a capital W.

From all this I gathered that it was a bare-bones play, with little overt set design, was priced at 20 dollars per ticket, and concerned itself with language and situations as they evolved real-time. Lots of overlapping and interruptions of speech, with actors living in the moment, beat to beat. Sort of like theatrical improv, in the manner of Annie Baker, in 90 minutes without an intermission. Reviewers were complimentary about the acting and direction, with some finding the script true to life, others a bit humdrum. If you've been reading my blog site you'll know that I'm biased toward theater which explores language with all its nuances, spending less time and money on design. I also like to see theater made available at a reasonable cost, so that more people will partake of the experience. So far, even better.

So what's my take going in? Lungs is like a controlled experiment where two opposites explore their issues within a particular generation. You're not only gaining privileged access to two individuals but a close up and personal look of late Generation X. This was the cohort that was going to do everything the opposite of their parents. No divorce, better childcare, no materialism, and certainly no disregard for the environment. As a boomer, I can tell you we said many of the same things - maybe in different ways - but we too were going to improve on our parent's generation. Also it's amusing to me the degree to which Gen Xers try to control and justify every aspect of their lives, where a more laissez-faire approach to life at least shaped our early years. In the final analysis most of us become those people we set out not to be: carbon copies of Mom (as the ladies will attest) and Dad (as I am still finding out).

Narcissism has gotten a bad rap. These self-absorbed characters are interesting narratively. Unlike life, where such people are a colossal pain close-up, in fiction they are endearing, where they are at a distance. These one-on-one slugfests are cathartic to us in the way that the fall of the hero to the group (class or gods) was satisfying to the Greeks or the moral comeuppance for straying types pleased Victorian audiences. Perhaps the new realism is melodrama dressed in modern garb.

The staging and reception may be contextual. The first question the playwright and future directors will ask themselves is whether the basic truths could be driven home on a fully designed set. My short answer is sure: you could open the play up with plot elements and additional characters, just like any adaptation. On the other hand, if the playwright's vision is to produce something like a stripped down experience of human nature, maybe this could be part of a continuing investigation. The American painter Andrew Wyeth made a career by taking most everything out of his tempera panels and canvasses when working from real life (the Helga paintings excepted). Perhaps Mr. Macmillan has found the theatrical equivalent of representation by removing all the extraneous signage.

Two-hander plays have an inherent dramatic tension. Consider - just off the top of my head - Coburn's The Gin Game, Gurney's Love Letters, and O'Neill's Hughie and you will know what I mean. Throw any two people (or characters) together - even the most similar - and you have a recipe for conflict and I might add, mystery. Otherness is what it's all about; we can't get enough of it.

So how will this all play out? I contacted Studio Theatre to set things in motion. Tune in late next week, when I will provide an update. But don't wait on me: To see a top notch production in this venue for twenty bucks, you can't go wrong. Get out and see a play!