It's Only Time

Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy doesn't fade with age.

by Mark Cofta

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Published: Oct 10, 2007

Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy doesn't fade with age. Not when the 1982 comedy is gently updated, as at Villanova Theatre — its restaurant becomes a coffeehouse with the help of Ardmore's MilkBoy café, and its newspaper personal ads are now online liaisons. Doesn't hurt that some of its central issues, like homophobia and public emotional expression, are still relevant.

A quarter-century makes a difference, of course. We're not as scandalized when Bruce (likable Carl Granieri) mentions "my male lover Bob" to appropriately named blind date Prudence (lovely Rachel Anne Stephan) moments after they meet; and we're more disturbed in these post-Columbine times by a psychiatrist (albeit nutjob Charlotte, played grandly by Amy Walton) advocating gunplay as therapy. That Prudence's therapist Stuart (Jeffrey Paden) seduced her in their second session has little shock value today — but the fact that she continues seeing him (as a patient, that is) still stings.

The entire meet-cute story of bisexual Bruce and repressed Prudence, coached by their equally inept therapists, comes off fun, outrageous and, by the end, cautiously hopeful.

Director Dina Amin both helps and hinders the play's success. The coffee-shop setting succeeds admirably, with a dedicated quintet playing patrons whose reactions to Bruce and Prudence cleverly amplify the humor. Most inspired, though, is Janet McWilliams' autoharp-strumming café singer, who warbles hilarious songs (by The Magnetic Fields) between scenes. Unfortunately, instead of bridging scenes, her moments become lonely islands, marooned by awkward blackouts. Amin's staging works against, rather than with, Villanova's long thrust stage, ignoring the side sections (Carrie Ballenger's warm, sprawling scenic design notwithstanding). While the play — further strengthened by Luke Moyer's plaintive Bob and Lance Mekeel's gruff waiter, Andrew — wants to sprint comically, the fussy scene changes weigh it down.

Beyond Therapy still succeeds as a clever satire about people who need (too much) to trust therapists and therapists who need (too much) to be trusted, and how they all screw each other up. Mocking therapy also might seem politically incorrect, or at least passé, these days, but Durang's central message — trust thyself — never goes out of style.

(m_cofta@citypaper.net)

Beyond Therapy, Through Oct. 14, Villanova Theatre, Vasey Hall, 800 Lancaster Ave., Villanova, 610-519-7474, www.theatre.villanova.edu

 

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