Rating (out of four stars): ★★
Laura Eason’s “Sex with Strangers” explores modern-day challenges of navigating relationships in a digital world, with the added complexities of publishing companies and pickup artist communities peppered in.
The play follows two characters, Olivia and Ethan, who first meet at a bed and breakfast that doubles as a writer’s retreat where the Internet is down. The two are not entirely strangers, though — through the world of publishing, they also encounter one another through the books they’ve written.
“Sex with Strangers” is a promising scenario with a title that does a bulk of the work sparking the audience’s interest. However, Arizona Theatre Company’s rendering of the show with indie company Stray Cat Theatre struggled to deliver on the story’s promise.
Under director Ron May, the first act failed to hook and hold interest. Ethan, played by Tyler Eglen, seemed to awkwardly straddle the line between his youthful, pickup artist persona in the world of publishing and the genuine “nice guy” he believed himself to truly be. His transitions between these layers of his personality didn’t feel fully believable, and the youthful energy the character exuded seemed like an act.
Olivia, played by Heather Lee Harper, was difficult to pinpoint. The character seemed to remain true to herself, but lacked the rich depth of personality Ethan displayed, making her pale in comparison to him despite the internal conflicts she played out on stage.
The first act developed the relationship between the two characters, but their dialogue felt forced and unrealistic. Conversations rehashed much of the same content without a palpable build in tension. For that reason, it was hard to remain interested all the way through.
While it’s the job of the theater company to deliver a show that is compelling from the beginning to the end, it’s important to note here that the writing can have its own pitfalls.
The first act places Olivia and Ethan in a situation where they are cut off from the outside world, which makes good sense with the play’s exploration of how the Internet can affect relationship dynamics. The problem is, however, that because no outside forces can act on the two, all the conflict must come from within the characters themselves. This happens to an extent, but any arguments the two have are settled rather quickly and neatly in the first act.
Playwrights also seem to love choppy, short lines that don’t always evoke how people really speak. Some awkwardness in dialogue can result when these kinds of lines punctuate an entire conversation.
The second act of the play, on the other hand, packed a lot of punches. Something happened; Olivia and Ethan felt realistically rendered and the tension rose. The outside world acted on them, and they acted back. The pity is that it took so long to get there.
On another positive note, the set design by Eric Beeck was clean and distinct, clearly evoking the contrast between a rustic bed-and-breakfast in rural Michigan and a modern, urban apartment in Chicago. The contrast between the sets played against the situational contrast in the play and helped drive the understanding of the issues of connection and modernity Eason is getting at.
A final critique, which ties up a greater concern with the play as a whole, is that the show is really about Ethan. While it is posed as being about the relationship between Ethan and Olivia and seems to treat them as equals, in truth Ethan presents a richer character and follows a more compelling character arc.
As a show with only two characters, “Sex with Strangers” didn’t fulfill its need to equally and fully realize both of them, leaving a less nuanced and powerful impression of these characters’ lives.
Contact the columnist at molly.bilker@asu.edu
