– By Cate Marquis –
The Repertory Theater of St. Louis re-launches its beloved Studio series, now the Steve Woolf Studio Series, in their lower-level, black-box Emerson Studio space, with a winning firecracker of a play, “The Roommate.” This two-person play puts two women who couldn’t be more different together as roommates in a large rambling country farm house in Iowa. But make no mistake, this is not a re-imagining of “The Odd Couple.” The women in this comedy-drama are different on the surface but share much underneath, as we learn when these two start to reveal some shockers, finding they share a common goal at mid-life: to re-invent their lives, and even themselves, into something completely new. It is a kind of coming-of-age for middle-age, but specifically for women’s lives.
Many women go through a transition a mid-life, whether adjusting to an empty nest, finding themsleves suddenly divorced or widowed, or changing careers. That gives “The Roommate” a kind of universality. But this story, and these women, are also completely unexpected, and not many others share these experiences – leading to some big laugh-out-loud moments and a few jaw-droppers.
The play could not be more perfectly cast. Kelley Weber plays Sharon, a newly-divorced middle-aged housewife, who finds herself at loose ends and rattling about her Iowa farm house like poet e. e. cummings’ “angry piece of candy” although she is more forlorn than angry. She rents a room in her big house to a stranger, a woman from New York, although we never learn how that came about. We meet both women as the roommate, Robyn (Nancy Bell) is moving in, with her many, many boxes. Robyn is from New York City, not upstate New York as Sharon had assumed and is even more out of her element that Sharon thought she would be. In welcoming her new roommate and trying to make her comfortable, Sharon tells Robyn she’s from out of state too – Illinois.
The comedy situation is amplified by smart writing and snappy dialog, delivered prefectly by both Weber and Bell. Why this woman from New York City should suddenly move to Iowa is the biggest question on the mind of the woman renting to her, and the audience. She has no family there, she’s not there for a new job and she seems a total mismatch for the place – like a giraffe in a barnyard. She just doesn’t fit. But try as she might, Sharon can’t draw many details out of mysterious Robyn. It’s not that Robyn is unfriendly, as she smoothly redirects the conversation back to Sharon and away from herself, but she clear is in culture shock. By contrast, Sharon is very forthcoming about her life, except where she is lying to herself about parts of it – like her son in New York who she insists isn’t gay even though most of his friends are. Over the course of the play, more secrets come out, and both characters are transformed in wholly unexpected ways (and often shockingly funny ones) by the other, as a friendship grows between them. A truly transformative experience, that renews both their lives, in ways we don’t see coming.
The play had a lot of fun with the mismatch, as do Weber and Bell, and Robyn’s mysterious past, but eventually secrets do come out – like comic explosions sometimes.
“The Roommate” is written by Jen Silverman and directed by Rebekah Scallet, who is Artistic Director of the New Jewish Theater. The play’s program notes quote the playwright who observes, on the experience of theater, “I want it to tell me things about myself I can’t bear to know, but tell them to me in a way that makes it possible to know them.” “The Roommate” does that, with dark comedy twist. It is also a play about friendship, real friendship, as these seemingly mismatched women find a common bond that ties them, something we all can understand.
Mostly, what makes this show really work, both comedically and dramatically, is the cast. Nancy Bell and Kelley Weber work together like a seasoned comedy team, or a pair of thoroughly-rehearsed, skilled dancers – alway beat-perfect, always in the right place, with the right reaction. It is no small feat, and it is no surprise that Bell and Weber are friends in real life. There skill as performers and a genuience ease between them works magic on stage.
As always, the Rep excells with the set and costumes, from Robyn’s citified cowboy hat to Sharon’s frompy dresses, there is not one thread that doesnn’t support the characters and the dark comedy in Lou Bird’s costume designds. The single set includes a big farm hour kitchen, a back door, a side porch, a small sitting room and stairs up to a second level. It sounds like a lot to fit into a small stage with the audience on three sides but set designer Robert Mark Morgan does that, while making the space feel open and large.
If you are like a dark comedy with a human heart, or a good drama with a bit of edge and a sharp humor, “The Roommate” is a great choice. If you want to see a pair of actresses at the top of their game, in total sync on stage, “The Roommate” is your ticket. What a great way to welcome back the much-missed Studio series.
The Repertory Theater of St. Louis’ “The Roommate” is on stage at the Loretto Hilton Theater’s lower-level Steve Woolf Theater in Webster Groves through Nov. 17.
© Cate Marquis
