Meeghan Holaway and Andrea Flowers (Photo by Zoë Allen)
Reviewed by F. Kathleen Foley
The Whitefire Theatre
Through October 10
British-born Kieron Barry is an established playwright who has written Spy for Spy, now at the Whitefire Theatre, in the spirit of pure experimentalism. At least, that’s what he states in the program notes.
Barry’s two-hander consists of six distinct scenes detailing the relationship between Sarah (Meeghan Holaway) and Molly (Andrea Flowers). The gimmick here is, half an hour before each performance, audience members choose the sequence of the scenes — a playing order that varies from night to night.
The evening this reviewer attended, the play was (serendipitously or not) a mostly chronological recapitulation of Sarah and Molly’s affair.
Sarah and Molly meet on New Year’s Eve at a California winery. Sarah, a high-end attorney with blue-blooded antecedents, has recently suffered a painful breakup and is trying to avoid an encounter with her ex, also at the winery. Molly is a starry-eyed actor, currently working at the winery, who hopes to make it big in Hollywood.
In best rom-com fashion, the two couldn’t be more opposite in terms of personality and background. Cynical, rational-minded Sarah is the Apollonian half of the duo, so wrapped up in her inner thoughts that she has lost the capacity for spontaneity. It takes the free-wheeling, Dionysian Molly (hence the winery), a creature of impulse, to reawaken Sarah’s dormant joie de vivre.
Barry certainly has a flair for dialogue, as reflected in the comical banter between the two protagonists — prime exchanges that elicit plenty of laughs. However, despite its overarching “experimental” premise, the play is, thematically speaking, tired. Not to be guilty of any spoilers, but let’s just call it a lesbian Love Story. Take from that what you will.
Katie Ohrn’s lighting and John McLucas’s sound are excellent, but Michael Massey’s intermittently fussy direction can baffle. (Why on earth, make the performers laboriously shift a couch around during scene breaks when it isn’t even utilized in that particular segment?)
It’s irritating that Barry has overwritten Molly as a manic pixie dream girl of such staggering ignorance that it strains credulity. Fortunately, Flowers smooths over the jagged contours of her character in a performance of formidable charm. As for Holaway, she’s a savvy stage veteran who is, as always, a joy to watch.
The Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Thurs., 8 p.m. thru Oct. 10. Check website for alternate locations in Ventura and Santa Barbara. https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/spyforspy/shermanoaks Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.
