BWW Reviews: Solid Cast, Uneven Script Gives MIDDLETOWN a Disconnected Feel

Otterbein University's theater department has never been known to play it safe when it comes to selecting plays. The department, which brought such works as AFTER THE FALL, SPRING AWAKENINGS and FULL MONTY to the stage in recent years, continues to stretch its audience with its most recent production MIDDLETOWN.

MIDDLETOWN, playwright Will Eno's essay on life, death, and depression in small town American, is like a contemporary version of OUR TOWN with a severe need for Prozac. Inside this quiet little burg where "the main street is called Main Street and all the side streets are named after trees," many residents are leading quiet lives of depression which they try to paint over with sunny smiles and happy outlooks.

"Things are fairly predictable in Middletown," the police officer says near the beginning of the first act. And yet things are hardly predictable in MIDDLETOWN.

The play features some stand out performances. Emily Vanni is outstanding in her portrayal of Mary Swanson, who moves to Middletown in hopes of starting a family. Her husband, who is never seen or heard in the play, is always away on business. That leaves Mary alone to discover the town, make friends and deal with bouts of loneliness and melancholy.

Vanni pulls off the little nuances of a woman who engages in the fringes of an emotional affair with quirky misfit John Dodge (played by Sam Parker) and then recoils when she fears the two are getting too close. The second act finds Mary pregnant and alone as her husband continues to travel on business. Vanni does a great job conveying the aches and pains as well as the fears of a woman about to give birth.

Parker also fleshes out the part of Dodge, a ne'er-do-well who is battling his own insecurities and fears. In the second act, Dodge's anxieties win out as he loses contact with Mary and with the rest of the world. He succumbs to his depression in the hospital while Mary gives birth to a son a few doors away in a surreal life cycle.

James Sanders (cop), Jeff Gise (the mechanic), Tori Hidalgo (tour guide) and Mary Kate O'Neill (the librarian) provide unique takes on their character's backstories. Evan Moore-Coll, Steven Meeker, Peter Moses, Kay Rommel, Kayla Walsh and Afton Welch also sparkle in supporting roles.

However, Eno's work can seem disjointed and inaccessible to some members of the audience. At times, Eno seems as if he was taking a dozen solid monologues and compressing them into a two-act, three-hour play. Eno has a real talent for writing some great comic situations but in MIDDLETOWN, there aren't enough of them to make the play a laugh-out-loud comedy. The play lacks enough tension and action to make it a drama. The end result is a play with a very disconnected feel, which may have been Eno's point.

The final scene before intermission had five cast members in the audience critiquing the play's action. "Since you don't know the end, you're not sure what you're in the middle of," one of the "audience members" remarks.

I know now the ending of the play but I am not sure I am any wiser to its point.

MIDDLETOWN's final shows are at 8 p.m. Oct. 30-Nov. 1 in the Campus Center Theatre (100 W. Home Street in downtown Westerville).

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