OFF-BROADWAY REVIEW
FIFTY WORDS REVIEW
Reviewed by David Sanchez
Published 2008-10-06
The theater world, and indeed most storytelling mediums, are rife with the subject of marital bliss, disintegration, and the fall out, all of which can be seen in Fifty Words. The story revolves around Adam and Jan, a New York middle class married couple who have the opportunity to rekindle the waning flame of marriage because their child is at a sleep over. He travels a lot, she works a lot, and the attempt to connect and deal with severed connection is the central theme of the show.
From the moment Adam and Jan, as rendered by Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Marvel, step onto the set designed by Neil Patel, they immediately capture the feeling of their home as being lived in. Posters adorn the walls and ceramic bowls in a variety of colors line the shelves. Most every part of the set is utilized to great effect and no set element seems to dangle uselessly. Part of it is the excellent job the two actors do, their chemistry with each other, and indeed their attuned relationship to the space. From the beginning of the show, we are in this world.
At one point during the show, the couple are sitting at the table over Chinese food reminiscing about a sexual tryst in the backseat of a cab when Jan raises her leg to expose herself to the audience. It's titillating to say the least and is indeed emblematic of just how intimate this play is. From Michael Weller's words to the ferocity of the actor's performances, this is a play in which we are beckoned into this slowly crumbling world. That one leg raise is only the beginning because as things fall apart, and it gets very close to total annihilation, more and more is exposed onstage (yes, I also mean clothing).
Perhaps the most enjoyable and exciting written aspect of the show is the way that Patel authentically shows the back and forth of action, indeed the downright ambivalence, of two people in a situation too familiar to leave and burdened with the responsibility of their son, too heavy to shrug off - at least easily. Patel deals with all the themes of this story archetype without falling into cliche and the writing is quite beautiful despite its conversational and realistic tone of speech. One could walk in with a list of plot predictions or themes drawn from a bevy of marital stories and probably get a few matches, but the audience will still sit there rapt with interest and wondering what will happen next. The question in a play where entire lives crumble within a matter of hours is that of plausability.
Obviously, this is theater. It's artificial and exaggerated. Where the smoothness of the staging excels, sometimes the too clever dialogue began to show too much of the writer instead of the character. Also, one major revelation, a pivotal moment in the show, was lost on me. It came off so abruptly that I was asking myself what exactly happened for a good minute or two.
Still, this is one of the rawest and funniest of marital representations. Butz and Marvel are some of the best and downright daring actors one will see in a theatrical performance. And Patel, who also has a show called Beast, about the Iraq war, playing at NYTW concurrent with Fifty Words has been mentioned on this site as a playwright to watch. I couldn't agree more.
Click here to buy group tickets.
