Loose Knit
Reviewed by Nikki Munoz
The Group Rep
Through September 8
In Theresa Rebeck’s Loose Knit, directed by L. Flint Esquerra for the Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre, a group of five women come together every week to knit. But their knitting takes a backseat to the drama in their lives.
The five women in the group include two sisters, one of whom is having an affair with the other’s husband. The other women have their own problems, including two who go on a horrendous blind date with the same man. The tension among the group continues to rise as their problems become intertwined, then hashed out during their weekly meetings. The company makes a valiant attempt to create compelling drama, but the show unfortunately falls flat.
The production’s most significant problem is the text. The plot is founded on clichés and predictable moments, exemplified in a reveal just before intermission that is treated as a major plot twist but is obviously contrived. An attempt is made to address both feminism and racism, but this comes across as superficial because these elements are not fully interlaced with the plot. The themes and messages are then blatantly spelled out for the audience in the final few scenes.
Further, although this is a dialogue-driven piece, the characters’ lines are unnatural to the point of distraction. This causes the actors to stumble over them repeatedly. (If the stumbling is intentional — as an attempt at natural speech, for example — it’s neither obvious nor successful.) Additionally, while much of the problem lies in the writing, the performers lack a strong grasp of their characters and the relationships among them. As Lily, for example, Stephanie Colet displays none of the complex mix of anger and sadness that her husband’s affair with her sister would engender. Cathy Diane Tomlin’s Paula is way too subdued for the angry words she’s tasked with delivering.
In one scene, Gina (Lisa McGee Mann) has a breakdown after being let go from her job, during which she rambles nonsensically and moves wildly around the room, with little apparent logic to her movements. Moreover, up to this point, Gina has been in the background, so there’s been neither a build up to this breakdown, nor anything that would connect us to the character. The other women react variously — Liz (Marie Broderick) tries to snap her out of it, while Lily goes along with it — but their reactions can hardly be assessed as believable when the breakdown itself is so abrupt and unwarranted.
Loose Knit is meant to be a character study, a dialogue-heavy emotional drama. Instead, it serves as a reminder of how important a good text can be, and how difficult it is to overcome a bad one.
The Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through Sep. 8. https://thegrouprep.com/show/loose-knit/. Running time: approximately two hours and 15 minutes, including one 15-minute intermission.
