My overall impression
In this Neil LaBute play, a guy named “Guy” visits a handful of ex-girlfriends under the pretense of wanting/needing a karmic clean slate from each of them before getting married. Guy’s character is discovered through his interactions with these various ladies and we soon realize his proclivity for slinking out of relationships without explanation or even acknowledgment. Witnessing this semi-celebrity fiction writer’s lack of maturity in dealing with conflict/confrontation is disappointing. This is a man who has and continues to let himself off the hook and expects others to do the same.
A role like this could easily lend to making broad conclusions and one-note choices but actor Gregory James does not fall into this trap . Though more colors and nuances are to be mined in Mr. James’ performance, something stronger direction would undoubtedly remedy, I did notice a swelling compassion within myself for Guy by the end of Some Girl(s) preview last Tuesday. To feel something for this man by the end of the show is to Mr. James’ credit.
The high school sweetheart and Guy’s first love, is skillfully delivered by Laura Hartley in the role of Sam. At the top of the show, Ms. Hartley’s Sam looks and listens to Guy’s rationalizations with the comportment of a good and kind mother. Her patience and restraint eventually collapse into an honesty and vulnerability that caught me quite off-guard. As a woman having had two pregnancies myself, I was particularly effected by her attempt to explain something she felt self-conscious about. Just heartbreaking. The nuance of Ms. Hartley’s work is one of the strengths in this production.
The hippie, fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants rebound is affably portrayed by the attractive Dana Kalan.
The encounter with the married professor, played by Rachel Parker, is fueled by anger and regret and yet it doesn’t come off too heavy. She is the first in the show to really take Guy to task but since the audience has Guy’s number by now, there is much humor within the scene before it takes a very dark turn. I’m not sure I completely understand Lindsay’s complicated motive or logic in the final minutes, but I was fully engaged.
Brianne La Flair plays Bobbi, the true love. Her performance is quite natural and Ms. La Flair is very likable. Not unlike Mr. James, however, more direction is needed to find the carvings in this lengthy piece which is the first part of the second act.
And then there is the delightful Katherine Diaz as Reggie. Guy’s reason for meeting with his ex-best friend’s younger sister is an extremely uncomfortable one and Ms. Diaz could have simply given us a weepy victim, but she doesn’t. Her Reggie is effervescent yet wistful, shrewdly observant yet charming. This young lady made specific and creative choices at every turn and it was a pleasure to watch this actress at play.
Some Girl(s) is by no means LaBute’s strongest work. Because of the similar trajectories of each vignette, it feels more like an exercise than a play. This production, however, has its merits and is worth catching.
