Skintight
Reviewed by Katie Buenneke
Geffen Playhouse
Through October 12
RECOMMENDED:
It’s tempting to think that what playwright Joshua Harmon does is easy. His way with language seems effortless, easily conveying characters’ backstories without feeling obviously expository. This high quality and ease of storytelling can be seen in this and his other plays (including Bad Jews and Significant Other, both of which appeared at the Geffen in previous seasons).
The story centers on Jodi Isaac (Idina Menzel), a 40-something whose ex-husband has just gotten engaged to a 24-year-old woman. Jodi is already sensitive about the new woman’s comparative youth, so it hits a particularly sore spot when she learns that her father, Elliot Isaac (Harry Groener), who’s turning 70, is in a committed relationship with Trey (Will Brittain), who, at 20, is the same age as Jodi’s son, Benjamin (Eli Gelb). As the characters trade barbs, the evening becomes a rumination on pursuing youth (or at least the perception of it) and love.
Harmon often utilizes a shortcut of sorts, creating characters that will be familiar to the types of people who see plays at upscale professional theaters such as the Geffen and Roundabout Theatre, which has premiered most of Harmon’s works (including Skintight — this version at the Geffen is billed as “The Roundabout Theatre production of . . .”). It’s likely that by drawing, and drawing on, characters so familiar to upper-middle-class theater-going types, Harmon is alienating potential audience members who don’t see themselves represented on the stage. That said, these characters ring remarkably, eerily true. They articulate all the nastiest thoughts that we may have, but we have the restraint to keep them to ourselves, in order to avoid hurting our loved ones. As in, say, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, there’s a vicarious thrill in hearing vicious words spoken without consequences.
Under Daniel Aukin’s direction, the cast is nearly perfect. Every actor is truthful and speaks authentically, but Groener feels miscast as Elliot, a Ralph Lauren–type fashion designer who is obsessed with both being and looking young. Unlike his character, Groener appears to have settled in nicely to his natural age rather than fighting it, putting his appearance at odds with how we might imagine Elliot to be, especially given that the character undergoes a Botox procedure during the events of the play.
Lauren Helpern’s scenic design is sleek and intimidating, fitting a family like the Isaacs. More perplexing is Vincent Oliveri’s sound design, which is definitely trying to achieve something towards the end of the first act, but it’s not clear what, making it seem like there’s some sort of issue with the speakers, rather than a conscious design choice.
Skintight is such a remarkably specific play, it likely won’t speak to many people. But for those who see themselves and their loved ones in the characters on stage, it’s an engaging and amazing night at the theater.
Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood; Tues.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 p.m. & 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through Oct. 12. GeffenPlayhouse.org. Running time: two hours and 15 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission.
