Safe Sex
Posted by Angela Newman April 01, 2008 2:39PM
There comes a moment in Harvey Fierstein's Safe Sex where one character asks, "Whatever happened to sex being fun?"
Which is when House Lights points at Simply New's current production of the play and says, "Don't worry. It still is."
Ten peso plot: Three one-act plays all deal with sex, love and relationships in a post-AIDS world. Comedy, drama, and enormous playground equipment ensue.
Bill Molesky and Garrett Heater star in the first (rather poetic) act, entitled, 'Manny and Jake,' which is a scene between two strangers explore the nature of how AIDS, and consequently, the rise of 'safe' sex, changed the interaction between potential sexual partners. Even though the piece is somewhat comedic (picture Ken dolls dressed in orange protective jumpsuits, rolling down a wooden dock), overall, it is quite sad.
Bill returns in the second segment ('Safe Sex'), this time paired with Dan Tursi. The two play a long-term couple sparring about their relationship (past lovers, sexual issues, personal hygiene...) while literally perched on a seesaw - the symbol of their struggle to maintain a balance of trust and power. This segment is arguably the funniest of the three, thanks to the verbal zingers expertly tossed back and forth by Molesky and Tursi, whose chemistry makes it an utter joy to watch.
The final segment, called 'On Tidy Endings,' centers on the recent AIDS death of Colin, and the power struggle/grieving process between his ex-wife, Marion, and current partner, Arthur. Moe Harrington is just heartbreaking as the woman who can't let go of the man she loved, and Dan Tursi has the audience in the palm of his hand from the moment he walks onstage. Together, they are electric. Binaifer Dabu is wonderful as the somewhat icy and angular lawyer, and Timothy Nara works well as Marion's challenging pre-teen son.
Under the sharp direction of John Nara, the outstanding cast really delivers on this provocative, emotional roller coaster ride of a production, scoring another hit for Simply New.
Safe Sex plays through April 6 at the Bevard Studio in the Civic Center. Totally go see it.
| SAFE SEX
Posted by Neil Novelli March 29, 2008 12:13AM
Harvey Fierstein's "Safe Sex" goes back to the mid-1980's, when AIDS was a fresh threat about which we knew very little. Even then the play, robustly comic, was felt to be more about human nature than about AIDS.
Simply New Theatre's production of "Safe Sex," seen at Friday's preview, reinforces that opinion, with John Nara directing a superb cast in a sparkling production.
Fierstein's dialog in these three one-act plays goes for the direct, personal and often earthy. The play and the production style are perfectly suited to the semi-surround acting space of the BeVard Studio.
"Manny and Jake" opens with the sounds of surf and sea birds. Jake (Bill Molesky) sits on a boardwalk grieving. In walks the much younger Manny (Garrett Heater): "What are you doing?" Jake: "Praying for sex." Manny: "Your prayers have been answered."
But it's not that easy. Jake has lived a fully free sexual life -- "So many Mr. Rights," he recalls -- and for him, safe sex destroys his reasons for having sex. Fierstein's dialogue here is crisp and Hemingwayesque, with the sense that both men know precisely what is at stake in a risk-filled life.
The segment titled "Safe Sex" has Dan Tursi and Molesky seated at opposite ends of a huge red see-saw.
Long-time lovers and deeply in love, the two men on the see-saw are having a colossal spat, hurling at each other from a distance the bad memories that long-time partners can store up -- stuff like showering, rule-making, infidelities, fussy house-keeping.
But they also have wonderful memories.
Tursi anchors the bottom end of the board. Molesky, perched quite high, slides up and down creating a sense of shifting balances and of risk -- a risk of going too far, of losing each other. The see-saw (sturdy and impressive, designed by Bob Jetter and built by John Czajkowski) can raise or drop the men a great distance. A small miscalculation could be disastrous. For them to re-unite, one person will have to risk the trip past the center point of the see-saw.
Of course the fear of AIDS helps keep them apart, but even that becomes linked to sheerly personal issues.
"On Tidy Endings," the third and longest play, centers on Marion (Maureen Harrington), the ex-wife of Colin, who died of AIDS; and Arthur (Tursi), Colin's partner and caregiver. Tim Nara does good work as Jimmy, Marion and Colin's resentful adolescent son; and so does Binaifer Dabu as an abrasive lawyer.
With powerful and unabashed melodrama, Tursi and Harrington explore the amity and enmity between the two people who were closest to Colin, and have been through the harrowing experience of his death. At the end is a shocker, and I won't disclose it. The play is sentimental at times, but the sentiment is earned.
|