By Whitney Sorensen
Wit’s End Theatre Company presents a new short play, In Spite of Ourselves by Cate Heiner, at the 2018 Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival. The 30-minute show features a cast of two, a young couple who are negotiating how well their lives fit together—and how long they’ll stay together.
Before the first line of dialogue, Danielle (Hannah Ensign) and Asher (Maxwell Paris) bring out a bed frame, a full mattress, and some sheets and pillows. They playfully flirt as they also take care of the basic work of setting up their new home together. Soon they bring in a bookcase, a mirror, and a box of knickknacks to place on the shelves, and the action begins in earnest. Kudos to stage manager Ash Crystal for keeping all the items in order and acting as the entire backstage crew.
Heiner’s dialogue has the typical pacing of a romantic comedy-drama, and Ensign and Paris create energy in the interactive scenes with their quick delivery. Ensign particularly shows off her acting chops during the first few scenes, varying her tone and mood to indicate important lines. These scenes are meant to show how deeply Danielle and Asher care for one another, and the actors certainly do their part to sell the physical attraction.
Still, despite both characters making vague references to how the relationship formed, I wasn’t entirely drawn into their fantasy world, though I felt engaged and eager to see more. Maybe that’s intentional and the play hopes to subtly clue the audience into the eventual break-up, or maybe I just personally prefer romances that build up to a get-together rather than those that start in the middle of togetherness. That said, as a single adult around the same age as Danielle and Asher, I still related to the way they tiptoe around each other, even in a relationship that should feel secure.
Interspersed between the moments of Danielle and Asher talking to one another are a few introspective scenes. Ensign and Paris discuss the same topics, but as if they are delivering side-by-side monologues. These scenes are more stylistic, and the blocking, lighting, and dialogue all reveal cracks in the relationship, though it isn’t always clear what those cracks are and why they exist.
As the play reaches its climactic moment, Heiner finds a clever way to make each of her characters become vulnerable. Paris shines in this scene as he lays his heart on the line and expresses a range of emotions in a short period of time.
If you venture to the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival (and you should) and you’re a fan of romance, add In Spite of Ourselves to your list of shows to take in. It’s on the schedule nearly every day of the festival, each time playing in the 90 S Rio Grande building at the Gateway.
Wit’s End Theatre Company presents In Spite of Ourselves by Cate Heiner at the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival
The Gateway, 110 S Rio Grande St, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Remaining performances: Aug. 4 4:30 PM, Aug. 5 3:00 PM, Aug. 10 9:00 PM, Aug. 11 6:00 PM, Aug. 12 7:30 PM
The fee to get into the Festival is $5 and the show ticket is $10. All ticket sales go directly to artist.
Tickets can be found at http://www.greatsaltlakefringe.org/tickets/
In Spite of Ourselves Facebook event
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