By David Forrest Weinstein
One of the inventive features of After-Play, a light-hearted drama at the Arena Players' Second Stage in East Farmingdale, is the pantomime by a bartender watching. He is very emotionally affected by the conversation at his restaurant table. Like at the circus, if one performance on the stage here doesn't move the audience another may.
Another feature is that the play takes place entirely in one setting. The two couples are sitting at one table in one Manhattan bar restaurant. The playwright keeps them moving about to keep us visually entertained, keeps providing pretexts.
For instance, Terry has to smoke and Sandy is incited to object and Terry says she'll move to her husband's chair instead.
Coinage in the title and invention in the production -- these are signposts of an enjoyable ride.
After-Play is comical with a tragical dimension. These characters before us are older than anyone we know: they carry their histories with them and are dragged down by them more than any of us care to.
Marty and Terry, Phil and Renee have just viewed a play and are dining out while a tremendous snowstorm is building outside. Snowed-in both in location and in disposition, they indulge in deep conversation.
When Renee orders veal, for instance, Terry brings up the topic of the mistreatment of veal calves.
She doesn't just say they're mistreated and that Renee might order fish instead; she reaches into her encyclopedia of information and provides an elaborate dissertation...to her friend!
At our distance we can find this humorous. To a certain extent the characters realize their particular foibles and are themselves amused. Yet we, who are able to observe externally, understand that no snowstorm, no familiarity requires these historical and deep conversations.
They have just seen a theater play and in it gloves were handed over by a relative to a child at the end. Terry asks the others if they understood the significance of the gloves. They interpret it as an act of kindness.
In the Terry Guteman role, Sandy Dickinson comes across as strong. She makes it clear that Terry holds staunch moral positions.
On the topic of these gloves, she heatedly objects, "They were not just gloves. They were a symbol of continuity through the generations! Aughh!"
Renee blinks, uncomprehending. She says she'll make a concession: She's "medium moved."
When Terry looks confused, Renee's husband explains, "Renee has a Richter scale of emotional responses."
This sort of witty repartee, interspersed in the drama, helps keep the play light. So also does the outsider pantomime by the waiter. He has introduced himself as Raziel. Impressed by his exotic appearance, the diners ask where he's from.
"Where?" he replies in his effeminate voice. "Why...from Queens!"
Then he watches the conversants from behind the bar. He cleans glasses and observes. A thousand expressions cross across his countenance as he follows their conversation.
Ron Stroman's role as the waiter is memorable. He reaches for the highest peaks of drama.
The play presents its contrasts clearly. Terry and Sandy are delighted that they can sing a childhood song rapidly while patting hands. They laugh, and overcome with emotion, they hug.
In come the other two, who were out talking. And Marty suddenly announces, gravely, "Did you know that Phil was dead in a hospital for four full minutes?"
Then Phil confirms it to them, also not looking at them. "Oh yes, it happened."
Terry and Sandy become hysterical at the timing of this announcement.
The performers in After-Play are sharp and seem to come alive to the moment.
After-Play will be playing at the Second Stage through Jan. 25, and should not be passed over lightly. Only, try to dine in a restaurant with a partner before you go...and stay awhile. If you do, you'll be the more amused later by After-Play's melodramatic depiction of the dining-out experience.
