Photo Source: Sterling Ferguson
Amy (Emily O'Meara) and Thomas (Henderson Wade) are co-workers in an unnamed corporation who hook up one night, with drinks after work leading to an awkward morning after. The account is first told directly to the audience by Thomas, who regrets the unplanned hanky-panky with someone he isn't really into, particularly because he knows office romances are one quick step away from joining Match.com. "You know how you get animals to breed in captivity?" he asks in one of his frequent breaks through the fourth wall. "You put them in the same cage."
The cleverest concept in Jackson's predictable tale is that halfway through the first act the narrative switches, and Amy retells the story of their affair from her perspective. As seen through Thomas’ eyes, Amy is a clinging annoyance he would love to dump, but when she recounts her "Rashomon" version of their budding relationship, he's the annoyance and she's the one ready to move on.
Under Alejandro Romero's direction, these two potentially charismatic performers and a supporting cast of five promising Renegade company members playing multiple roles leave the impression this might be a project developed from an exercise in their scene- study workshop. O'Meara and Wade are likable and, in the Hollywood meat grinder of fresh faces, eminently castable, but she finds many more colors to explore than does he, his stiff body language needing to catch up with his confidence.
Whether "My Romantic History" as presented at Edinburgh was originally set in New York City or the Renegades updated it to take place on our side of the pond is something of a mystery. If it has been relocated from Jackson's native Glasgow to our own faster-paced and world-weary Manhattan, that might explain this production's essential banality. Because Thomas and Amy, discussing what movie they want to take in, are at odds between "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" and "Magic Mike," obviously some material was updated. Yet the rampant U.K.-style use of what on these shores remains the most dreaded word in the English language, as in "He's a cunt" or accusing a group of guys of "cuntish behavior," makes it apparent these characters were meant to be European, which might have made their standard urban single breeder-on-the-prowl behavior more quaint for hard-nosed American audiences.
Presented by and at the Renegade Theatre, 1514 N. Gardner St., L.A. June 28–July 29. Thu. and Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 6 p.m. (No performances Thu., July 19; Sat., July 21; or Sun., July 22.) (323) 874-1733 or www.plays411.com/MRH.
