[adrotate banner=”95″]

[ssba]

Jack and Jill

Reviewed by Paul Birchall
A guest production at the Santa Monica Playhouse
Through March 27

In playwright Jane Martin’s romance, the two characters at the center of the love story are named Jack and Jill. It is not immediately clear why this is, since neither of the lovers goes up a hill, falls down, or breaks his or her crown.

One supposes there’s meant to be something archetypal about the fact that the paramours have the names of characters from the famous nursery rhyme. Or perhaps we’re supposed to think that the rough and tumble nature of true love is similar to the chaos and hurt in the well-known story. In any case, Martin’s play, which contains nothing more than two characters engaging in the metaphorical dance of love for each other, is about as stripped down as a story gets.

Handsome young professional Jack (Robert Standley) meets beautiful med student Jill (Tanna Frederick) at a Manhattan coffee house, and falls for her almost as soon as he notices she’s reading Sylvia Plath’s poetry.  Jill is insecure and a little awkward, but Jack is relentless — and soon they are a happy couple, making plans to marry. However, a few minutes before their actually wedding, Jack suffers a sort of anxiety attack, which Jill has to talk him through to save their relationship. There follow further romantic perturbations as they argue over career and their mutual devotion to each other.

Martin’s play is intentionally modest in scope; it’s concerned mostly with what motivates us to do what we do, and whether love is enough to make an entire relationship work. The play and the characters are so self enclosed that it often appears as if there is not another person in their world aside from them – and director Jack Heller’s subtext-based staging quite artfully captures the intimate sense of a couple’s affection and their tribulations.

The staging is a bit awkward for the Santa Monica Playhouse’s mainstage environment, though: The action has been blocked so that a good half of it is obscured by the right side wings, and on the night I attended, audience member after audience member complained about not being able to see.

Still, Frederick and Standley have strong chemistry, with Frederick boasting an engaging sensitivity as she matures from insecure student to confident adult —arguably more mature and thoughtful than Standley’s more impetuous, more sexually motivated Jack.

However, the play ultimately comes across as a slight vehicle, without the heft or depth to sustain our interest. The more kvetching the characters do, the less we care whether they will or won’t make it through together – and that’s a pity.

Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 Fourth Street, Santa Monica; Fridays and Saturdays at 8, Sundays at 3. Through March 27.  (323) 960-1055 or www.plays411.com. Running time: 90 minutes.