Oh, the pretentiousness. Playwright Will Eno grabbed major attention and was short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for his rambling theatrical monologue Thom Pain (based on nothing). In this new collection of short sketches — I hesitate to call them plays — his depressed characters are still verbally meandering, but at least their time on stage is shorter.
In just over an hour we meet a baseball coach devastated by a losing season and a breakup with his girlfriend, two lonely singles baring their needy psyches in front of a dating-service camera (How many times have we seen that one?), a PR woman vainly attempting to put a positive spin on a plane crash, a photographer and a stylist advising the audience to "be more tragic" in order to re-create a historic picture, and a couple stuck in an existential quagmire.
The last-named segment, the title piece, is the most confusing of these angst-laden tone poems. On a bare stage with only two chairs, a man and a woman mime being in a car, which does not start. The husband gets out to take a look at the problem and then exclaims as if it's obvious, "No wonder it doesn't work. These are only chairs!" That's a great beginning for a meditation on the elusiveness of reality, but Eno fails to develop it. Instead, he has a handsome young man enter. "Who are you?" the wife asks. "I'm the beauty of it all," he replies. The couple disagrees about whether they were headed for his father's funeral or her niece's christening. The young man delivers a few lines about the mystery of life. Blackout. Huh?
I caught the reference to the symbolic attractive youth from Edward Albee's The American Dream. But that character had a personality and objectives; Eno's stick figures are only representations of general moods and feelings. There's no action, conflict, or resolution.
Marisa Tomei and Brian Hutchison work hard to lend specificity and weight to these nonentities. Tomei provides much-needed humor to her reading of the spokeswoman's bland words of comfort, and her isolated date seeker is particularly touching. Hutchison exposes the coach's poetic soul and movingly re-creates a battlefield nightmare for the photography segment. Drew Hildebrand completes the company as the enigmatic young man. Despite the strong performances and Jim Simpson's sturdy direction, these five works are daubs of paint that don't add up to a complete portrait of anything.
Presented by and at the Flea Theater, 41 White St., NYC. Nov. 29-Feb. 2. Tue.-Sun., 7 p.m.; Sat., 3 p.m. (212) 352-3101 or (866) 811-4111 or www.theatermania.com or www.theflea.org. Casting by Calleri Casting.