Wheaton Wire

Issue date: 12/3/08 Section: Arts & Culture

Media Credit: Annie Laurie Malarkey ‘09 Beyond Therapy is a hilarious adventure through tangled love and wacky psychiatrists. Above, Laura Goldstein '12 (standing) is the therapist of Matt Brown '10 in a very eccentric session.

Water, cats and therapists" are the three words director Clara Bene '09 used to describe her production of Christopher Durang's hilarious play, Beyond Therapy. After rehearsing three to four times a week since September, Beyond Therapy celebrated its debut performance on Nov. 20 with a large, laughing crowd in the Kresge Experimental Theatre.

A theatre major, Bene knew she wanted to direct a play this semester. She came upon Beyond Therapy while visiting a friend who insisted that she read the production. Bene fell in love with its humor and humanity.

Beyond Therapy tells the story of two thirty-something New Yorkers who, encouraged by their respective psychiatrists, meet through a personal ad in the 1980s. Bruce (Matt Brown '10) is a bisexual man who cries frequently and greets his date, Prudence (Jane McCarron '11), a traditional woman who lives with her cats, by commenting on her breasts.

The date goes downhill from that moment on, as Bruce continues to dig himself a hole by barraging Prudence with his constant logorrhea, even mentioning his male lover, Bob. The evening is deemed a catastrophe, as both end up doused in the other's water.

In the next scenes, the two retell the disastrous tale to their therapists. Stuart Framingham (Sam Brown '09), Prudence's therapist, is a womanizer who uses a wheelchair despite the fact he can walk. Cantankerous and licentious, Dr. Framingham does not seem to offer Prudence any help, and is instead fixated on the prospect of continuing their affair.

Bruce's Snoopy-obsessed, absent-minded therapist, Charlotte Wallace (Laura Goldstein '12), encourages him to place another personal ad, though more extravagant than the previous. Prudence answers the ad, yet again. However, this time the two seem to hit it off. The rest of the play revolves around the comical love triangle between Prudence, Bruce, and Bob and the continued presence of their wacky psychiatrists.

This work is an incredible achievement for Bene's first time directing a full-length play. Her cast was perfect, with each actor embodying the quirks and psychosis of their characters flawlessly. When asked about her casting, Bene described going into the audition process with an open mind, though she looked for specific characteristics in people. For her, the actors she chose made themselves stand out from the beginning. Particularly admirable were the actors' abilities to meet the physical demands of the script.

Morgan Shattuck '11, who plays André, the couple's elusive waiter and Bob's disco buddy, commented on the importance on being off book early in the rehearsal process in order to work on the physical comedy. The actors did a great job maintaining the comedic quality of their lines while fully following through on the physical nature of the play.

Beyond Therapy was, in the words of McCarron, a "wild and over-the-top ride. Around every corner there is something more shocking, more wet, and more politically incorrect then the last. But, overall the idea of the play is to laugh, laugh at life and enjoy the ride."

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