There are some clever plot twists and snappy dialogue exchanges in Rag and Bone, but they don't quite overcome the air of desultory nonsense that pervades this comedy by Noah Haidle.
The central characters, George (Michael Chernus) and his backward younger brother, Jeff (Matthew Stadelmann), operate a ladder store, but George has a clandestine business on the side, selling and installing hearts on the black market. His customers include a millionaire (David Wohl) who can no longer feel emotion and so purchases the heart of a poet. Meanwhile, the poet (Henry Stram), whose heart's been stolen and installed in the millionaire, goes around the neighborhood lamenting that he can no longer write poetry. He finds comfort when he's befriended by the neighborhood prostitute with the requisite heart of gold (Deirdre O'Connell) and her unusually mellow pimp (Kevin Jackson). Complications ensue when prostitute and pimp decide to help the poet get his heart back.
Obviously, Haidle is attempting some sort of comically surreal meditation on the value and mysteries of the human soul as represented by the heart — the prop hearts by Brandon Giles are rendered quite realistically — but as situations strain toward farce the writing seldom catches fire. There are too many clunky lines like "Nobody can have a heart in this world and survive." When the script finally realizes some touching moments toward the close, they're achieved by abruptly pushing obvious buttons, with characters rhapsodizing on dead friends and family.
The cast, filled with unimpeachable talents, occasionally endows the proceedings with depth and animation. But director Sam Gold's production feels stalled in an uncomfortable netherworld between naturalism and absurdism. The over-the-top treatment seemingly needed is rarely utilized — as when blood spurts relentlessly into Jeff's face as he attempts to install a heart. Indeed, this work by Haidle, ranked as a comer among the newer playwrights, should be a lot more bloody fun than it is.
Presented by and at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater,
224 Waverly Place, NYC.
Nov. 20-Dec. 16. Wed.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 5 p.m.
(212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com.