Boy Gets Girl - A Play Review
...ecializes in soft-core porn, the subject of a magazine article Theresa is supposed to write. The assignment is a quiet conceit that allows the playwright to deal indirectly with the sexual issues underlying the plot about the victim and her predator. It's also a cheap, superficial and very effective tool for comic relief. Finally having enough and seeing no hope for the future, Theresa decides that her only option is to change her name and move to a different state. The rigidly linear development of the plot, particulary when coupled with the many short video scene changes, threatens throughout to turn the play into a live version of a Lifetime made-for-TV movie. Characters Theresa Bedell is a Manhattan writer - attractive, witty, confident and possessing the requisite defenses that living in such a city would merit. Tony Koss is handsome and pleasant, at first, but as the play continues you see traces of psychosis increasingly twisted behavior. The character of Les Kennkat, the sleazy, “breast worshipping” soft-core movie producer provides a welcomed comic relief to the serious of the play. Howard Siegal is the sypathetic and supportive boss who becomes a possible target. Mercer Stevens is a writer in the office who finds himself haunted by the image of the stalker when he tries to help and inadvertantly falls for Theresa in the process. Harriet is the “dumb blonde” secretary who falls for the stalker’s con-artistry, and unwittingly helps him continue his agenda. Madeline Beck is the cop who has plenty of “advice” to offer, but not much reassurance. Theme This performance’s sensebilities tries to keep it from becoming just another victim-in-the-big-city scenario, however. The larger questions making up the theme are always kept near the forefront: What part do basic differences in the sexes play in such scenarios? Why can’t society prevent such things from happening? Why is this considered so common now days? In what ways does it even contribute to fostering such abnormal behavior? It’s clear from the writer’s intent in “Boy Get Girl,” that in the jungle of relationships keeping your guard up is not enough. Theresa’s annoyance with Tony turns into terror as he begins to threaten her. Theresa’s fight to save herslef from harm calls into question th efundamentals at the very heart of romantic pursuit: what men assume ans what women expect. It show how the stalker invades every aspect of the victim’s life - not merely her physical privacy, but also her professional ability and sense of identity. Diction The attempted diction for this play was Metropolitan New York. The conversation at the beginning of the play between Theresa and Tony was a very good example, especially on the part of Theresa. However, as the play continued and the plot built, these accents were virtually lost. And during very dramatic scenes, again, especially those of Theresa’s, it was non-existent. The only two exceptions would be that of Harriet - who held not only her dialect but her meter and energy through the entire performance and Les Kennkat - whose gravely voice and...