Brooke Bloom and Ryan King play W and M (guess what the initials stand for). W and M live together and spend a lot of time talking about whether they should have a baby, get married, worry about ecology, global warming and all sorts of topics on which neither of them always agrees. This leads to a lot of emotional interplay, cut-off sentences, interruptions, unfinished thoughts and unspent emotions. There is a lot of screaming and accusing one another of not being there. It must have been a difficult script to memorize. But they do it as if they have been doing it for years, which in a sense, they have. They were both in the original cast at the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC. They do their parts with an incredible sense of reality.
The play was directed by Aaron Posner and set on a stark stage- no set, no props, just two people loving and hating each other at various times.
They decide to have a baby; she has a miscarriage; they part; see each other briefly; conceive a child; and finally marry after much Sturm und Drang.
My friend and I were completely engrossed in the action but felt the play could be effectively cut by ten or fifteen minutes to its benefit. The intensity coming off the stage is palpable. We were both emotionally exhausted by the end.
These are two extraordinary actors. I would love to see more of them. Barrington Stage please take note!
