Amanda Brunton and Jake Lipman
Some shows make you smile. Some shows pass the time just fine. Some shows are cute but not life-changing. Some shows you forget about as soon as you leave the theatre. Tongue in Cheek's presentation of HUMANS ANONYMOUS falls into each of these categories.
Winner of Best of Fringe and Best Ensemble in the 2006 Toronto Fringe Festival, the play follows five characters searching for love -- well, mainly two characters searching for love, an obligatory gay BFF, a whacky sister and some random guy that enters the play jarringly late into the action. The basic plot involves workaholic Ellen (Jake Lipman) who meets Jenny (Gusta Johnson) at a coffee shop under the impression that she’s meeting Lenny. Jenny claims ‘oops! typo!’ and a game of cat-and-mouse ensues in which the more open-minded Jenny goes after the closed-off Ellen.
The play totters along for twenty minutes searching for a consistent tone and rhythm. It’s difficult to get drawn into the circumstances, as the performances range from overstated (Kyle Minshew as Peter, the gay BFF) to bland (Lipman’s Ellen). The actors have little to no legitimate chemistry and don’t fare better solo either. When they take a first-class trip to MonologueLand (over and over and over again), it’s more distracting than serviceable to the story. While the monologues do add some interesting character details, this information could easily have come about in dialogue.
Many elements of the plot are challenging to believe because they happen rapidly without proper development. Jenny falls so quickly for Ellen but because Ellen is presented as such a bore, you wonder what the more warm Jenny sees in her. The bottom line is Ellen needs more alluring quirks script-wise or Lipman needs to create them herself in her performance. As it stands, the women’s’ tête-à-tête on homosexuality has a “been there, done that” feeling because it’s rushed through, is stuck in neutral instead of moving forward and it concludes with a kiss more lame than intense. Because it doesn’t appear that this is happening for the first time, in this moment, right now, I get the sense that the actors over rehearsed... which would make sense given that their scene changes are fierce and fast.
As the character of Peter is given more to do, the play improves. Minshew’s portrayal becomes more honest and he grows more likable. Although he could have gone even further dramatically in his monologues (which would have offered a sharper contrast to his office scenes with Lipman) at least there are glimpses of truth as he discusses a father-son relationship on the rocks. This is better than the trite, sitcom dialogue that dwells in certain scenes -- dialogue like “I haven’t had hair like that since my Boy George phase." In an interesting turn, Johnson’s Jenny radiates a light, breezy energy in a café scene with Minshew. They bring out the best in each other as they dial their Quirky Knobs back to just the right notch. They become a cute, sweet pair who team up to help Jenny woo Ellen.
The other two characters we meet feel out of place in the play and are not given enough to do. Peter’s sister Gema (Amanda Bruton) drops by with a cat. She also monologues. It’s a so-so performance: she’s sometimes delightfully quirky, but sometimes more annoying than Sandra Bullock’s character in All About Steve. Ultimately, Gema is an unnecessary character in an unnecessarily bizarre costume who diverts attention from the more appealing story involving the three leads. This isn’t the only failed subplot though; there’s also a backstory about Gema and Peter’s father that gets lost in the shuffle.
The addition of Gema is not as off-putting as Arden, played by Geoffrey J.D. Payne. His best moment involves (spoiler alert!) rising from an audience seat and abruptly joining the actors on stage. In his first encounter with Lipman, Payne does get her to loosen up (I love when she smiles!) and the two are awkwardly endearing together. But if the character of Gema is unnecessary, the character of Arden is beyond redundant. Payne tries hard but as written, Arden is forgettable, dull and timid to the point of apathy, a.k.a. not the character type to throw into the play half-way through.
Once all five actors are in the mix, sans certain key instances, there’s not enough connecting. The lack of believable reactions is quite excessive actually. For example, when Jenny is asked “What do you deserve“” by her new loyal friend Peter, she barely stops to think about it. Really? You can fall in love with a hard-as-nails office worker in five seconds but you can’t take three to ponder this valid question? Another moment where Ellen finds out what Jenny and Peter have been up to behind her back needs to pop more. What should be an explosion is a bomb that never goes off.
If the play had focused more on the tricky yet delicious inelegance of meeting new people, the spontaneity of pursuing others, and the complications of having a major infatuation, this could have been a knockout production. My single favorite moment of the play arrives when Jenny and Ellen both say “I beg to differ” at the exact same time. The look of shock on their faces is gold, followed by this perfectly acted and perfectly written interaction: “You owe me a beer.” / “I’ll buy you a beer!” / “I don’t drink beer.” Gema charmingly agrees to this offer and when Lipman’s Ellen realizes she might actually have to leave her comfort zone, she takes it back while trying so hard not to hurt Jenny's feelings. What makes this so riveting is that it’s the closest the play comes to presenting human nature. There’s another very nice moment in which Arden compliments Peter. Watching this straight male touch this gay male then give a look which says ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have done that,’ is an absorbing, relatable, small moment.
I must also give credit to a wonderfully detailed and truthful five minutes between Minshew and Lipman towards the end of the play. Some harsh words are said, some breasts are grabbed, some arms are hit, and a ton of love and forgiveness shine through. These five minutes intelligently display the relationship between a lonely woman and her brazen best friend. They get each other, and it’s here that I get the beauty of their friendship.
At the end of the day, even with some brief flashes of a better play, HUMANS ANONYMOUS is a mostly forgettable night of theatre because the moments of depth and cohesion are few and far between the moments of vagueness.
HUMANS ANONYMOUS runs May 2-5 and 9-12, Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm, at the Bridge Theatre at Shetler Studios. TICtheater.com.
