For Better

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Not funny, over exaggerated, sporting a stellar cast with a waste of talent. Eric Coble’s new play, For Better bowing to its world premier at Curious Theatre Company would make a great Saturday Nigh Live sketch, and we all know they certainly could use one, but For Better does not contain enough laughable material for a one-act, much less a two-act play.

John Arp and Ed Cord in a scene from Curious Theatre’s production of For Better.

As part of the National New Play Network’s Continued Life of New Plays Program, Curious commissioned Coble to tackle the question “Do the bride and groom need to be in the same state when they get married?” In our electronic time span of cell phones, text messaging, and emails, with all the wondrous gadgets filling our pockets, weighing down our purses, creating intriguing bulges where there are already intriguing bulges, the over-use of electronic communication strikes us every day. Every other driver encountered either has an earplug or a cell phone pasted to their head. Either that or try to text message with one hand and both eyes glued to a keyboard.

The subject is hardly new, getting beaten over the head by TV news, for obvious reasons. Businesses attempt to clamp down on personal use of electronic devices, but the culprits manage to stay one step ahead of the clamps.

Don’t get me wrong. The subject certainly flirts with play material, but not For Better, even though it was granted an Edgerton Foundation “New American Play Award.”

For the most part the characters are hyper-irritating, particularly Rhonda Brown’s Lizzie, endowed with a giggling 12-year old in a woman’s 30 something year old body.

Directed by Chip Walton, For Better gives the impression our society has turned into a bunch of blithering idiots. If Beings from other planets happen to catch this production, they will scoot off into the universe convinced no intelligent being occupies earth.

Old tired jokes are driven into the ground, which the ”Can you hear me?” phone commercial did all by itself. Buried in the silliness are some good lines that are in their right screaming “can you hear me?” To hear them means paying attention to the on-going nonsense that becomes extremely difficult as the play lumbers to its fairy tale happy ending.

Antsy over having a plane to catch, Karen, played by Lisa Rosenhagen, stares at a phone expecting her fiancˇ, Max, who we’re told Is old fashioned, to call so he can ask her Father, Wally, for her hand in marriage. Max never appears on stage. Undoubtedly, this seemingly old-fashioned guy is too busy text messaging while tramping around the world.

Karen and Max met in an airport, and they’ve only seen each other twice. She just knows it’s solid ground for marriage.

Jim Zeiger tries to give Wally a good-old-Dad sense of dignity, but the sense of dignity wears a costume shrouded as an ignorant “doufas” who knows how to use a telephone as long as it is black. Afraid of the electronic gadgets, Wally gives the impression the elderly can’t keep up in the electronic age. There are skillions of retired people who not only have every gadget invented, but also are quite proficient with them. They just carry wisdom in their pocket acknowledging there is a time and place to use them.

On a set expertly designed by Michael R. Duran, Wally’s comfortable living room with out-of-date mis-matched furniture takes center stage. Several metal platforms of differing heights surround Wally’s well-used “home” depict a smattering of different locations around the globe, from which the characters move and act, and have their being, communicating with their fingertips.

Dee Covington plays Francine, Karen’s cynical sister who is married to Michael. John Arp tries to provide Michael with humorous, embarrassing, funny stuff, but he has little to work with. Not even the comedic Arp can give Michael solid ground to genuinely laugh at, or with, or for.

Pushing the wrong buttons reveals the once-upon-a-time love affair between he and Lizzie. Of course, Francine hears the misplaced “I love you” sending her into a screeching over-the-top jealous rage.

Stuart who has carried a torch for Karen for eons wanders the earth apparently testing products that sends his mind into outer space surrounded by brilliant psychedelic lights. Played by Ed Cord, Stuart is connected electronically to his friends, but disconnected to his soul. Cord tries to attach Stuart to comedic funny, but he too doesn’t have much to work with.

Zeiger does pull off one touching scene when Wally revs up his nerve to email his two daughters. He wants to tell them about the ‘A-ha’ moment when he met his now deceased wife, and their mother. Zeiger salvages some dignity for Wally with warm, touching reminiscent insight, but so buried in the play with blithering idiots, appreciation for the moment comes somewhat rattled.

Brian Freeland’s sound design stands out, bringing the electronic devices to a life unto themselves bringing in more life than the characters on stage.

Curious Theatre deserves kudos for bringing new plays to the stage. However, with all of the skillions of well-written new plays looking for a place to breathe, it is a mystery how For Better got a leg up.

With all of the outstanding productions currently playing in the metro Denver area, any one of them would be a better choice.