BWW Reviews: World Premiere Comedy THE GRAND IRRATIONALITY Shines at the Lost Studio

In astrology, the Grand Irrationality is when the planets are all out of alignment and nothing adds up - a pretty fair description of Guy Proud's (Gregory Marcel) life in Jemma Kennedy's World Premiere comedy THE GRAND IRRATIONALITY at the Lost Studio. According to his boss Alex (James Donovan), Guy's job depends on the success of his new ad campaign for a woman's soft drink based on astrological elements called Sitara. Alex is all bravado, virility, and pure stupidity when it comes to women, making Guy's job all the more difficult since he is sleeping with Nina (Kirsten Kollender), the lovely long-legged blonde product manager, who is smart enough to see right through Alex's shortcomings. Even Guy wonders what he is doing, fully aware that he gets depressed when he has sex with women he barely knows, while for Nina life is about control, choice, and connection.

But when Murray (Peter Elbling), Guy's estranged father, breaks his leg and has to move in with him, along with his sister Rose (Mina Badie), who works out her post-partum depression by obsessively baking cakes, Guy's life starts to quickly fall apart and nothing seems to be going his way - especially when every romantic encounter he has is duly interrupted by Rose and her crying baby Chester.

When Guy meets and falls in love with African women's rights charity worker Vivienne (Bess Meyer), who's French, the comic underpinnings start to unravel, twisting all the characters lives around each other's as everything comes apart at the seams. After all, as Vivienne says, you can't stop people from falling in love with you. And sex and family mixed together is a recipe for disaster, always, admits Kennedy.

Ultimately Kennedy has written a witty comedy about a dysfunctional English family with a rich and complex cast of characters undergoing unpredictable mood swings throughout. Sure they are all flawed, but that's what makes them human and the audience respond as if we know people just like them in our own lives. I think the question becomes what does it take to grow up and just go for it? Or do you just take it as it comes and let fate work things out for you? I doubt there is just one answer, except to trust in your family's unconditional love.

THE GRAND IRRATIONALITY

A World Premiere comedy by Jemma Kennedy, Directed by John Pleshette

http://www.grandirrationality.com

Reservations: (323) 960-4443

Lost Studio
130 South La Brea
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Nina (Kirsten Kollender) and Guy (Gregory Marcel)