Adam Langsam and Devin Davis-Lorton (Photo by Paul Rubenstein)
Reviewed by G. Bruce Smith
City Garage
Through Sept. 8
RECOMMENDED
Neil LaBute is a prolific playwright/screenwriter who, despite his many works, is probably best known for In the Company of Men, the provocative 1997 award-winning film based on his play. In it, two angry, misogynistic men conspire to take their hatred for women out on an unsuspecting co-worker by pretending to fall in love with her and dump her at the same time.
If Company of Men is the hard-edged LaBute, then one could argue that his latest work, If I Needed Someone, having its world premiere at City Garage, is “LaBute Light” or even – gasp! – “LaBute Sweet.”
But it’s not as simple as that. The play focuses on male-female relationships — both on a personal and societal level — which is a fairly common LaBute theme. Here, however, it’s set in the post-MeToo era, and the examination of the complexities of such relationships is more nuanced than, for example, Company of Men.
The set-up is simple: Jules (Devin Davis-Lorton) meets Jim (Adam Langsam) — is it just coincidence, or a reference to the classic Truffaut film? — at a party, and they go to Jules’ apartment. They are drunk; she is very, very drunk. A roller-coaster of a discussion ensues for 90 minutes. There’s no real question that hangs over the duo’s exchange other than, perhaps, will they have sex. But there are clearly no stakes involved. Instead, what keeps your attention — with some lulls in the action — are the complexities of heterosexual dating in 2024.
Jim is the more sympathetic of the pair. He seems to be a regular, nice guy who is trying to navigate the choppy waters of dating and relationships at a time, he believes, that men have been put in an unfair position vis-à-vis women. “Everyone thinks men are the worst thing since forever,” he says.
Jules, who appears to have some emotional/mental issues (more on that later), sends him mixed signals. One moment she is nuzzling him, wanting to be kissed, while the next she is criticizing him. Jim tries to leave several times, but she coyly invites him to stay each time.
As the ups and downs of the evening progress, we learn more about both characters’ feelings, though it’s clear that Jim is treading gingerly into what he sees as a minefield. He talks, for example, about an experience he had in college in which he was humiliated by a woman so badly “it was like you’ve been kicked in the face.” Yet, as a man, he says, he would never try to have the young woman expelled from the college, versus what might happen if the situation was reversed.
Jules, who has had her own disturbing workplace sexual harassment experience, responds that humiliation is not the same as fears for physical safety. As a woman, she has to worry every day about that. Now, she says, men can start to feel the same fear women have felt for centuries.
While the characters’ tête-à-tête is mostly engaging, it strains credulity that Jim repeatedly says he likes Jules and continues to respond to her repeated requests for him to stay even after she has made him clearly uncomfortable.
Another perplexing choice made by LaBute is that he’s written Jules as a woman with fairly substantial emotional issues. It interjects an element that sometimes distracts from the core of the discussion between the characters.
Frédérique Michel directs the two-hander smoothly, moving the characters organically in time with the action. And it’s clear Michel and the very skilled actors have delved deeply into the characters and the complexities of the drama.
LaBute has a gift for being provocative, which makes for a rewarding theatrical experience. And in that context, a piece of advice: see the play with a member of the opposite sex. It will almost certainly guarantee a lively discussion over post-performance drinks or on the ride home.
City Garage, 2525 Michigan Ave., T1, Santa Monica; Thurs.-Sat., 8 pm., Sundays 4 pm; citygarage.org. Running time: One hour and 30 minutes with no intermission.
