It’s A. R. Gurney time in the Bay area, with the playwright’s Later Life appearing in Pinellas Park and a parody of his Love Letters – titled Hate Mail – showing in downtown St. Pete. Both shows are successful to a degree, but neither is without defects in script and/or acting. Still, Gurney has made an impact on the contemporary stage with his parables about upper-class WASPS and their idiosyncratic ways, so you might want to spend some time enjoying his Puritan protagonists at Venue Ensemble Theatre before driving over to The Studio@620 to see one of his most-produced plays travestied. Bring your squash racquet and protective glasses. Especially the protective glasses.
Overlooking Boston Harbor. Later Life, starring former Fox 13 anchorman Frank Robertson, is about two lost souls, Austin (Robertson) and Ruth (Mary Kay Cyrus), who meet each other at a party in a high-rise, and have 90 minutes to determine whether the meeting is momentary or forever. Austin is a divorced banker from a Brahmin family who has always believed that some terrible fate is just waiting round the next corner (this plot device is lifted from Henry James’ short story “The Beast in the Jungle”). Ruth is separated from her husband, and her best friend Sally is trying desperately to put her in touch with a “normal” man who will give her the sort of sensible happiness she clearly deserves.
This article appears in Feb 10-16, 2010.