BWW Reviews: Twisted Nerves with LIPS TOGETHER, TEETH APART at Westport County Playhouse

It's complicated. That's the best way to describe Terrence McNally's 1991 play, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, which runs through July 30 at The Westport Country Playhouse.

Even 20 years ago, the play was complex, but it was more powerful in the context during the tail end of the epidemic of AIDS, the disease and AIDs, the fear. For those who were too young to remember it, the fear of AIDS was to the 1980s was similar to that of polio to an earlier generation. People were afraid that they could get AIDS from casual contact, from a public toilet seat, from a swimming pool. And there was a great deal of prejudice against homosexuals, who were the main victims of the disease. In an age when several states are passing legislation to legalize same-sex marriages, any production of this play must try very hard to channel the emotions of the 1980s.

The play takes place at a beach house on Fire Island. Sally Truman (Maggie Lacey) inherited the house from her brother, David, a photographer who died of AIDS. She and her husband, Sam (John Ellison Conlee), invited his sister, Chloe ( Jenn Gambatese) and her husband John (Chris Henry Coffey) to spend the Fourth of July weekend there. Sally is a painter and is morose and emotionally fragile, especially since her brother's death, her affair with her husband's brother-in-law, John, and the pregnancy she fears she may not be able to sustain, based on her medical history. Put this heterosexual foursome on an 8.7 mile island that is populated mostly by the GLBT community and specifically in the house of someone who died of AIDS, and let the tension mount.

While the concept of the play worked in 1991 and is still credible today, the main problem is that the play is structurally flawed. The couples aren't particularly likeable. Nor are they always convincing, individually or together. The audience has no idea how good an artist Sally is. She actually seems unimaginative. Sam is carrying two mortgages and other debt, yet he seems to be a moderately successful New Jersey building contractor. Sam and Sally are protective of each other, yet their relationship seems to be one of polite habit and resignation rather than strength and love. John is somewhat priggish and reserved, the type who does The New York Times crossword puzzle in ink and without cheating, yet he will cheat on his wife. He is an admissions director at a prep school. Chloe is bubbly, babbling and well-meaning, an amateur musical theatre actress who peppers her speech with French, bursts into Broadway tunes and is aware that she gets on everyone's nerves. Her babbling helps her live in denial about John's infidelity and his battle with cancer of the esophagus. They live in New Canaan and are members of a country club. Quite frankly, she doesn't fit in and on his income, he probably cannot afford the membership application fee or annual dues. What did each of these couples see in each other?

Despite the tight direction by Mark Lamos, some of the scenes seem fragmented and unresolved in its theme of dealing with devastating illnesses and harsh reality and the hope of getting through it with love. At one point John and Sam have a physical fight, but the reason and the aftermath are unconvincing. In another scene, Sam forces open a strong box and David's ring accidentally falls into the swimming pool. A reference to the ring in the pool is made later in the play but, still, no one retrieves it. Sally makes a comment that they could get AIDS from the pool, but they were already wet from splashing or from putting their feet in it anyway. While Sally is painting, she is frequently distracted by the view of an unknown swimmer who later drowns. And then there's the title. It's explained at the end by Sam's bruxism and his dentist's advIce That before he goes to sleep, he should keep his lips together and teeth apart to avoid further grinding down his teeth. What is the metaphor as far as the play is concerned? That the couples must look as if everything is fine and not let on that they are disintegrating inside? Perhaps, but when done in three acts, two intermissions and about two hours and 45 minutes, that is a very long metaphor. The audience has a lot to speculate about.

That said, director Mark Lamos put together a cast that is otherwise excellent, but confined to a play that is problematic. Andrew Jackness' set design is stunning. When Sam states that the beach house is worth at least $800,000, the audience can believe it.

Is the play worth seeing? Absolutely. It depicted an important social as well as medical issue of an era. It just requires a reminder of its impact. And don't expect light comedy. See McNally's It's Only a Play for that.

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