Presented by The Family Business as part of the seventh annual New York International Fringe Festival at the Cherry Lane Studio, 38 Commerce St., NYC, Aug. 12-24.
This is an offbeat sort of "play within a play," as the main character is never seen or named. The premise is a newspaper interview with "The Man" (Allan Arbus), the estranged best friend of a dead celebrity.
We never learn what the deceased did. It doesn't matter, a fact that provides an intriguing twist. Arbus' monologue is a commentary on the phenomena of close friendship with an overpowering individual, on celebrity, and on the emotional effects of reconstructing memories.
Arbus conveys not only anecdotes about the friend, but his own idiosyncratic life as an older man living alone whose room has become his world. The play opens cinematically. Arbus looks out the window for a moment, anticipating his visitor. The stage goes dark. He paces in expectation. Darkness. This approach is very effective.
The Interviewer (Diane Landers) arrives. Recounting his memories leads the man to reflect on his own life's meaning. The friend's death is the one thing that has made the world take note of him.
Landers has only a few words—the surprise brings laughs—but acts throughout by reacting.
It's Arbus' evening, as well as the directors' (Mariclare Costello Arbus and Arin Arbus) and the writer's (Doon Arbus). Allan Arbus brings to life a sophisticated person whose world has shrunk. Listening to him let it all pour out is an uneven experience. His description of running into the old friend years after their estrangement and seeing the friend turn away is a powerful emotional image—one of many. At other times, the monologue becomes abstract and dull.
Then it livens up again. At one point, Arbus puts on a Sinatra record and dances "with" the interviewer from a distance, creating an amusing psychological moment and a hint of lost panache.
The play is refreshingly original and thought-provoking.