Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

Matthew Murphy ©2025  Peter O’Connor & Charles Socarides

“Be with me, and never come near me again” is the type of wonky phrase often uttered by Todd (Charles Socarides-of the recent production of The Marriage of Bette and Boo), the earnest, eternally confused yet utterly decent young man at the center of Anton Dudley's sometimes heavy-handed but often poetically alive new work. That kind of push-pull is evident throughout this two-act meditation on how one truly makes the world a better place, with its launching point the ritzy Manhattan apartment of Todd's parents, as a lovers' spat between Todd and his drunken New Jersey boyfriend Bryan (Peter O'Connor) takes shape, the latter of whom does not give what he receives in their already strained relationship.

At the top of the larger global tale, Todd communicates through letter-writing with a magazine freelancer named Agnatha (Shannon Burkett), currently a schoolteacher and aide in Africa who is trying to help a Zambian village whose citizens are being ravaged by AIDS (the play takes place in 1998). Agnatha, prone to opportunism but generous-hearted in intention, works alongside Emmanuel (Tyrone Mitchell Henderson), a kindly villager fervently making coffins to keep up with the death rate, while attending to the needs of Ms. Mwando (Francesca Choy-Lee), who develops an adversarial relationship with Agnatha while still respecting her good deeds. After some map-studying and soul-searching, Todd decides to join Agnatha in Africa, despite being a bit freaked-out by the people he would supposedly be helping out. And then back home, more drama ensues.

Dudley will never be cited for a lack of ambition, as the play's canvas is as wide as the African continent it boldly recreates for us, even with the aid of a giant floor map that-in a marvelous bit of self-reflexive intent-Todd sits on while he explains its regions to an affectless Bryan. The African content is far more engaging than the squabbling boyfriend asides, but thankfully the author has a canny way with making its characters express their innermost desires with surprising humor, and each of the characters is crafted with more than one dimension and not always what they seem. A subplot involving Agnatha's sister meeting Bryan in New York is far too credibility-stretching, but it makes witty use of cast doubling, with Burkett (very funny in this looser role) admirably creating two different people that you truly believe are siblings.

Matthew Murphy ©2025  Francesca Choy-Kee, Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, Peter O’Connor & Shannon Burkett

Actually, the entire cast is excellent, but Socarides-now the absolute go-to guy to convey spoiled, white-bread anguish- is positively riveting in a very tricky role. Play it too weakly and you risk Todd becoming a cipher, and played too imposingly, you would never buy his somewhat self-centered devotion to Bryan. Socarides' command of mood is impressive, and his monologue about meals and objects in his home forcing him to think of the impoverished in purely financial form is stirringly rendered.

Theatre Row's teeny-tiny Studio Theatre may not have been the most ideal space for such a sprawling work (it literally limits the actors' movement at times), but Dudley-also acting as director-finds inventive uses for it. The intimacy created in the space mirrors the play's intimacy in chaos, and the finely nuanced portrayals of sometimes uneven events provokes even more admiration for a first-rate troupe. May their work possibly be seen in an even bigger venue for another go-round.