Paul And Linda Plan A Threesome At Here For Now Theatre
Once again, Here For Now Theatre is performing in an outdoor tent at the rear of the Stratford-Perth Museum, and once again it is opening its season (its fifth) with an uproarious comedy. This year it’s the world premiere of the incredibly sexy Paul and Linda Plan a Threesome by Jane Cooper Ford, a worthy follow up to last season’s opener, Myth of the Ostrich. Let’s hope this becomes an annual tradition!
Paul and Linda Plan a Threesome may not be as falling down funny as Myth, but it still packs plenty of laughs. It also proves to be remarkably wise, serving up one home truth after another as its characters come to know and understand the most mysterious people in their lives – themselves.
Playwright Ford has done any number of remarkably clever things with Paul and Linda Plan a Threesome, starting with the title, which provides all the information the audience needs to start laughing at the first lines, well before the script has revealed the purpose of the evening’s procedures.
Simply put, Paul (David Keely) and Linda (Laura De Carteret), after a long marriage in which they raised a daughter who has now graduated from college and has embarked on her adult life, find themselves at a crossroads. Linda especially feels unfulfilled and has decided that a mutual sexual encounter with a stranger found on an online site will break the logjam in their sex lives. “It’s this or a divorce,” she announces. Paul, being a guy, has no problem with the prospect of what the porno films like to bill as “hot, girl-on-girl action.”
Despite their eager anticipation, they are both nervous as kittens and entertaining second thoughts when the doorbell rings and enter Sienna, a free-spirited, queer, polyamorous force of nature who, as personified by Shannon Taylor, is a Vatican textbook’s illustration of a near occasion of sin.
Sienna is every bit as self-assured as Paul and Linda are discombobulated. Sensing their discomfort, Sienna takes the initiative and begins making suggestions in fairly graphic terms about the various permutations and combinations available to them. Just when the audience is starting to feel a familiar stirring in its collective loins, the doorbell rings again and Paul’s “terrible sister,” the remarkably obtuse Gwen (Stacy Smith), explodes into the house with the announcement that she is abandoning her entire family.
At this point, playwright Ford deftly switches gears and, while the laughs keep coming, Paul and Linda Plan a Threesome reveals Sienna as a remarkably gifted couples therapist who works profound changes in Paul, Linda, and Gwen.
At a brisk fifty something minutes, Paul and Linda Plan a Threesome is the very definition of light entertainment, but I don’t think anyone will feel shortchanged by the brevity of the piece. There’s plenty of material here to fuel some interesting post-theatre conversations.
All this is due in no small part to an excellent cast. Keely and De Carteret are utterly believable as a couple who have muddled through over the years and Taylor is a delight as the sexually free spirit who opens them up. For her part, Smith turns in a fun portrait of Paul’s self-absorbed, none too bright, and ferociously annoying sister.
Director Megan Watson has brought the proceedings to a suitable simmer throughout and made inventive use of the tent’s indoor/outdoor arrangement. Rebecca Chaikin has contributed a nice set and costumes, especially Sienna’s stunning white dress.
Here For Now Theatre’s fifth season is off to an auspicious start. Artistic director, Fiona Mongillo, in a programme note, describes Here For Now as “a scrappy little theatre company” that “each year … becomes a bit savvier, a bit more established and a bit more likely to hang in there for the long haul” and I think that’s just about right.
This year their intimate white tent has been moved closer to the Museum and steps have been taken to assure that the path to the venue will not become a mud-soaked trek as was the case in seasons past. Steps are also being taken to ameliorate the inevitable mosquito problems. And it’s looking like next year, Here For Now will move into a permanent indoor space, while retaining the option of performing al fresco should the play require it. Brava!
Paul And Linda Plan A Threesome continues at Here For Now Theatre, in the tent behind the Stratford-Perth Museum through July 6, 2024. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the Here For Now Theatre website.
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[Image: Mark Uhre, Here For Now Theatre]
