KC Fringe "This" review by MsNeet

THIS at the Living Room

Rating: 5

This

KC Fringe Festival

Two strangers meeting on a park bench and holding a
conversation probably doesn't happen anywhere but on a
stage. In the late '50s, Edward Albee did it in THE ZOO
STORY, to explore the loneliness and isolation of the
20th century. Since this was before advent of cell
phones and iPods that rule the 21st century, the
likelihood of two strangers today meeting in a park and
holding a conversation seems as likely as it raining
pennies from heaven.

In Bryan Moses' THIS, playing at the Living Room, two
strangers do meet on a park bench. To defend love. Or,
rather to debate on whether they will get married.
Ethan (Tyson Schroeder) is convinced that Aimee (Andrea
Guertsen) is the one. Understandably, Aimee, just
passing through the park to get a cone at the local ice
cream parlor, isn't so sure after meeting this strange
young man. But, after an amusing exchange on time and
when it actually starts, she agrees to give Ethan five
minutes to argue his case.

Moses, who played Barry Champlain in the Living Room's
production of TALK RADIO, has, as a director, opted for
material that explores the dark side of human
interaction. David Harrower's BLACKBIRD, featured the
stellar performances of Scott Cordes and Vanessa Severo
as two ex-lovers, who, it's revealed, were 40 and 12,
respectively, when they were together. Neil LaBute's
THIS IS HOW IT GOES, a multi-racial love triangle of
quasi-Rashomon interpretations augmented by Moses'
inventive staging.

If naming his play for the first word of the LaBute
play seems an invocation of one of Moses' favorite
playwrights, then it's a mild one. THIS just manages to
keep the audience from detecting anything that an
intelligent woman such as Aimee might see as dangerous,
therefore prohibitive, in staying on the bench. Though
we're given a glimpse into Aimee's background – like
her being gun-shy since her last relationship ended –
we're not given anything about Ethan's backstory other
than his certainty in the here and now.

His rationale is that they have the rest of their lives
to get to know each other.

Like Aimee, you and I might have to listen just to make
sure we're believing our ears. Schroeder's Ethan, whose
introduction to the audience is a clever staging
conceit that will reinforce the real time structure of
the play, is an ideal.  As much as we want to believe
in the randomness and perfection of choosing to love
someone and dedicating oneself to sustaining love, the
ideal is a difficult one to flourish.

Both Guertsen and Schroeder deliver pitch-perfect
performances of characters whose motivations are,
clearly, to inspire the next thing either of them will
say. Love in real life should have such clarity. And
there should always be an Ethan to defend love, no
matter how seemingly sudden and arbitrarily it's
visited upon us. THIS plays at the Living Room, 1818
McGee, through Tue., July 26. Tickets are $10 with a
Fringe button at the door or in advance,
http://www.kcfringe.org/2011/artist.php?ID=163.