Anica Petrovic and JP Hubbell (Photo by Tom Dugan)
Reviewed by Martín Hernández
Dugan’s Backyard Playhouse
Through August 4
RECOMMENDED
The title of playwright/director Tom Dugan’s beguiling dark comedy refers to someone who leaves before anyone knows they are gone. Sandy (Anica Petrovic), a young New Jersey tavern owner, and Barney (JP Hubbell), an older patron, have seen plenty of such disappearances. While the two strangers wait out a snowstorm, they pass the time trading stories of their pasts, downing shots of Jameson’s and glasses of wine, and consoling themselves over past hurts. The liquor loosens their tongues, however, and some of their revelations cause more surprises than they expected from an Irish Goodbye.
It is Christmas Eve, 1983 and an anxious Sandy has just completed a cryptic phone call before the lights come up on Barney, the bar’s sole customer, sitting sheepishly at a table. While Sandy talks a mile a minute and quizzes Barney incessantly, he is more reticent and prone to short – and funny – answers. The outlandish Sandy, however, eventually wears him down with tales of her promiscuous past — and present — resulting in a teenage motherhood and a now petulant adolescent daughter. Barney reluctantly shares his own woeful tale of unruly behavior that cost him a career, a marriage, and so much more.
Though Barney is flattered, he rejects Sandy’s sexy come-ons, much to her annoyance – she was a beauty contestant in her youth, for goodness sakes. Beneath her flirtatious behavior is a longing for the love she had with her daughter’s father who left her before their child was born. Meanwhile, Barney still feels guilt from the familial fallout before and after his marital collapse, which is just one of the reasons he finds himself assuaging his grief in Sandy’s bar.
Dugan’s script offers up ample comedic moments, such as a hilarious scene involving a foot massage, and Sandy’s angry response to Barney’s reference to her childhood plumpness, a fact he would not have known about if she had not told him about it in the first place. There are also some ominous undertones better left for audience members to experience themselves.
While the actors sometimes rush their dialogue, when they do take time they land moving moments under Dugan’s solid direction. Petrovic’s otherwise frivolous Sandy breaks down as she relates her loving yet contentious relationships with her mother and daughter. Hubbell balances Barney’s amusing befuddlement over Sandy’s advances with sadness as he laments the estrangement of his wife and son and a surprising sturdiness at the play’s denouement.
A final pleasure is the opportunity to witness the show in a backyard dedicated to theater works. Make sure you bring along some insect repellant.
Dugan’s Backyard Playhouse, Woodland Hills, CA. (You will be given the exact address when you make your reservation). Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 2 pm; thru Aug. 4. dbptickets@gmail.com Running time 75 minutes with no intermission
