HOW TO TRANSCEND A HAPPY MARRIAGE is an edgy look at love and the conventional perception of it’s boundaries i.e…does real love have to be limited to only one other and is it also limited to a type of love?…be it friendship, familial, or sexual. I know that sounds ambiguous, but it poses a legitimate questions of the capacity for love and who or what defines the boundaries of it.
The play follows two happily married New Jersey couples at a dinner party. Being long-time friends and the openness that is afforded that circumstance, the normally uncomfortable topic of sex and a polyamorous co-worker who hunts and kills her own meat intrigues them so much they invite her and her two live-in boyfriends to a New Year’s Eve party…from there the wild exploration of the limits of frienship and love collide.
Playwright Sarah Ruhl, known for her bold eclectic style that blends fantasy and realism of heavy, thought-provoking topics does not disappoint. The grounded comedic moments keep the play from drowning in the absurd and metaphorical. Successfully finding a cast that can convincingly and eloquently handle the eclectic Ruhl-ist style of storytelling is not an easy feat, but director Rebecca Taichman nimbly guides Oscar winner Marisa Tomei (Broadway: The Realistic Joneses, Top Girls, Salome) and a cast of Broadway veterans: Robin Weigert ( LCT: Twelfth Night, Pride’s Crossing. Broadway: Noises Off); Lena Hall (Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Tony Award, Grammy nomination), Kinky Boots, Tarzan, Dracula, 42nd Street, Cats), Omar Metwally (Sixteen Wounded (Tony and Outer Critics Circle nominations) )and Brian Hutchinson ( LCT: The Invention of Love. Broadway: Man and Boy) down the rabbit hole into the land of “what if…?”
Without giving the plot away, the first act, as unsettling as it is, leaves you up in the air and curious as to where this path is leading you. The second act takes you even further. Then stops, turns you around and forces you look, to listen, to confront and to evaluate and consider the possibility of the legitimacy of the heart and the head’s ability to love your husband as much as your best friend in the same way and have it not be wrong. Love is love is love is love is love…or is it?
This play is not for everyone. It’s an exploration that will either intrigue you or offend you. Either way, it is doing what well written plays are supposed to do…provoke and stir your sense to get you to think about a topic from a different angle. So if thought-provoking theater is for you, definitely see it. If light-hearted “just entertain me” theater is more your bag, perhaps not.
HOW TO TRANSCEND A HAPPY MARRIAGE
@ Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi E. Newhouse
CAST & CREATIVE
Cast
Pip: Lena Hall
Michael: Brian Hutchison
Freddie: David McElwee
Paul: Omar Metwally
Jenna: Naian Gonzalez Norvind
George: Marisa Tomei
David: Austin Smith
Jane: Robin Weigert
Creative
Written by: Sarah Ruhl
Director: Rebecca Taichman
Set Designer: David Zinn
Costume: Designer Susan Hilferty
Lighting Designer: Peter Kaczorowski
Sound Designer: Matt Hubbs
Composer: Todd Almond
Tickets and additional information are available here.