Significant Other 

Reviewed by Katie Buenneke 
The Geffen Playhouse 
Through May 6 

RECOMMENDED 

Watching Significant Other is something of a sadomasochistic experience for single people. I mean that in the best possible way. Joshua Harmon’s play achieves a singular sense of catharsis, which is no small feat. But the story is so deeply personal, it feels like Harmon is directly seeking out your every insecurity and putting it on stage, illuminated in a neon haze.

The story follows Jordan Berman (Will Von Vogt), a New Yorker in his late 20s, who remains single as, one by one, his close friends from college get married. First, Kiki (Keilly MacQuail), the self-centered popular girl type, pairs off, but Jordan contents himself in the company of the sardonic Vanessa (Vella Lovell) and his best friend, the dependable and kind Laura (Melanie Field). Jordan has crushes of his own, but at every turn there’s some sort of romantic misstep. He feels his continued single status acutely, especially as Vanessa, and then eventually Laura, meet the men they’re going to marry.

Jordan isn’t necessarily the most likeable character — he makes poor choices, but then again, they’re same poor choices you might have made, or stopped yourself from making, when you were figuring out how to date. The new Taylor Swift song comes to mind: “Is it cool that I said all that? Is it chill that you’re in my head? Is it too soon to do this yet? ‘Cause I know that it’s delicate.” In the last scene, the play’s pièce de resistance, Jordan confronts Laura, upset that her marriage will drastically change the dynamic of their friendship. It’s an incredibly selfish moment — Jordan is making Laura’s special day all about him — but though his sense of timing is heinously misguided, there is a sense of catharsis to their conversation, relief that Jordan is both foolish and brave enough to say these things aloud to Laura. Every line is barbed, designed to inflict maximum damage on the other person, but at the end of the day, these are characters, not real people. You get to see how this conversation plays out, and you’re afforded a sense of closure, without hurting your friends.

There I go, much like Jordan, making this play about me. But hile the show was a deeply personal experience for both me and my friend (we come from similar backgrounds) 

I have to wonder if the piece is almost too specific. Harmon dives deeply and eloquently into these issues, but if the worst thing about your life is that you’re perpetually single, you lead a pretty privileged life. This makes the play insular, specific to the experiences of middle-to-upper middle class, college-educated twenty-somethings living in large cities. While it’s nice to escape into a marriage plot (or, as the case is here, a non-marriage plot), the play is simultaneously hyper-realistic and detached from the larger reality in which we live.

Those quibbles aside, the Geffen has done a remarkable job of staging the show. The tone of the text could have proved difficult, but director Stephen Brackett navigates it deftly, eliciting tears of both laughter and sadness, with nary a false moment in between. Sibyl Wickersheimer’s sets are versatile yet evoke specific settings, and the stage and actors are beautifully lit by Eric Southern.

Significant Other is, I imagine, a polarizing show. It won’t speak to everyone, but for some, it will be deeply personal and moving. But even if you can’t personally relate to Jordan’s angst, the show provides an insightful look into the minds of him and many real people like him.

Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood; Tues.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; through May 6. www.GeffenPlayhouse.org. Running time: two hours and 10 minutes with a 15-minute intermission.