Spring Ferrara and Genevieve Lerner (Photo by Max Downs)
Reviewed by F. Kathleen Foley
The Sherry Theatre
Through Sept. 5
RECOMMENDED
Genevieve Lerner and Spring Ferrara (Photo by Max Downs)
When first produced back in 2002, Matt & Ben — a genderbending two-person comedy written by Dartmouth classmates Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers — garnered appreciative critical response in its brief off-Broadway run. Kaling, who acted as Ben Affleck alongside Withers as Matt Damon, has credited that production with cinching her casting in The Office, her first step to stardom.
Now at the Sherry Theatre in North Hollywood, the show remains a peculiar curiosity, a lighter-than-air exercise in theatrical ephemera that seems an odd choice for a revival, but scores points for sheer weirdness.
Set in the mid-1990s, the play’s bizarre premise centers around the characters of Ben Affleck (Spring Ferrara) and Matt Damon (Genevieve Lerner), at a time before the two struggling actors became the celebrities we now know them to be. Their lives and fortunes are forever altered when the script of Good Will Hunting literally drops from the ceiling of Ben’s ratty apartment.
The script seems heaven sent — or is it? Of course, we know that the film famously won the duo an Oscar and secured their place in the Hollywood pantheon. In the play, unfolding in a series of blackouts, the duo engages in a surreal and increasingly fraught conversation about the ethics of exploiting such a windfall. Is the script, which after all has both their names on the title page, a God-given gift that they should exploit to their advantage or an explosive liability with unforeseen consequences?
As the boneheaded ladies’ man Affleck, the petite Ferrara is convincingly macho, while Lerner plays the cerebrally snooty Damon with just the right shade of condescension and contempt. Their believable chemistry — just two bickering bros on the cusp of the unknown — anchors the absurdism of this notably slight piece in a surprisingly realistic construct.
However, with just ten minutes left in the running time, a medical emergency in which an audience member collapsed at the foot of the stage makes it difficult to assess just how effective an uninterrupted performance would have been. The show resumed after paramedics dealt with the situation and suffice to say that the actors and the theater’s support staff acted with unwavering professionalism in a difficult situation. Based on what I was able to see, I have no hesitation in recommending Matt & Ben, with hopes that other audiences will experience it under more salubrious circumstances. (BTW, the guy who collapsed turned out to be okay).
The Sherry Theatre, 11052 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m., thru Sept. 5. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/matt-and-ben-tickets-1990745462267 1 Runtime: one hour with no intermission.
