Secret affair sizzles in ‘Night’
Tom Titus
Old habits die hard. So do old love affairs. In Michael Weller’s
“What the Night is For,” two former lovers -- both, then as now,
married -- connect again after a 10-year hiatus to find out if that
old flame is still warm.
This first American production of Weller’s two-
character comedic drama, now on stage at the Laguna Playhouse, is
an engrossing look into two diverse personalities whose only
commonality, it seems, is their hots for each other. Weller paces
their first meeting in a decade with a taunting “will they or won’t
they” attitude, but when the only pieces of furniture onstage are a
dining table and a bed, we all know what’s for dessert.
Director Richard Stein has tempered this two-character production
with a number of variables, the most important being the once and
future lovers’ tempo regarding their reunion -- and whether to treat
it with a “Same Time, Next Year” regularity or go the whole nine
yards and shed their spouses and family life (she has two children,
he has one).
Stein also has selected an excellent pair of actors to play out
this indiscreet love story. Claudia Christian is breathtakingly
magnificent as a frustrated poet whose dialogue drips with irony and
Kip Gilman is superbly stalwart as a guy who lays his heart on the
table -- or, in this case, that other piece of furniture.
Christian delivers several characterizations in her complicated
performance. In the opening scene, she is hesitant, even coquettish,
and it’s clear that playwright Weller is writing through her
character. Not that she’s incapable of cutting to the chase -- as the
first scene closes, she delivers the best line in the show: “I came
here to get laid.”
Gilman projects a strength and sincerity which may seem unusual
for someone in his circumstances, until he reveals that he’s been
searching for her ever since their first encounter ended. This
singleness of purpose brings Christian’s admission that her character
also has been on the lookout for him.
The second act brings a change in the atmosphere -- particularly
in Christian’s character as her vulnerability and desperation are
brought to the fore. Christian excels at this difficult bit of
business in a sequence that’s in turn achingly funny and profoundly
painful.
There’s a third character on stage in the form of Christian’s cell
phone, which rings at the most inopportune moments. This intrusion
from the outside world is an ever-present circumstance with which
both parties must deal, however delicately.
As the affair intensifies, the emotional stakes are raised and the
question of what’s to be done looms larger and larger. Weller offers
a plausible solution, though he doesn’t quite put an exclamation
point on it. Ultimately, the audience must draw its own conclusions.
The setting -- described as “a hotel room, somewhere” -- is richly
designed by Dwight Richard Odle and amplified by Tom Ruzika’s
lighting effects. The remnants of the characters’ past (such as a
bicycle hanging on a back flat, representing Christian’s husband’s
profession) are an inspired touch.
“What the Night is For” is for comedy, interlaced with razor-edge
drama, in this richly rewarding play about physical and emotional
need.
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