ON THE OTHER HAND, WE'RE HAPPY - Review

 

 

This is a poignant tale of love, loss, and how when one is not afraid to take risks, life can perhaps bring joy. Playwright Daf James has devised an ingenious way to persuade us that the love between stolid Josh and effervescent Abbe is deep and long-lasting. As we view a series of brief live-action snapshots, we see the changes that take place over the years in a happy marriage. We are enchanted by these time changes that reveal the dynamic in their marriage. Clearly, both are eager to share their lives fully especially when, unable to conceive, they agree to adopt a child.

There are events that make this a perhaps perilous choice, not least of all the fact that the mother of the child offered to them is drug addicted. One of the characters asks us directly, what would we do in such a case? Take in a perhaps badly damaged little girl? Would we risk it? Playwright James shows us, through Josh, the inner doubts for such a commitment but also his deep need to share love as he has known it.

The three marvelous actors all play double roles smoothly and believably. Rori Flynn, dazzling as the effervescent Abbe, whose ability to love is boundless, also plays a calm, assuring social worker whose deep understanding of the tumult in a childless person's mind is balanced by a firm belief in parenthood.

Christian Telesmar, as the conflicted Josh, shows how deeply he wants a child to hold yet reveals the fear that his dream might crash when facing reality. Telesmar portrays the sensitive husband believably, then suddenly breaks away for one brief scene to portray the child's father, a boisterous, demanding man that we know has a darker side.

 

Perhaps the most riveting part of the play is when we meet the child's mother. Alexandra Hellquist is marvelous as a frantic, deeply wounded, almost hysterical woman whose need to save her child from the degradation and abuse she suffers reaches levels of nobility. Hellquist also leaps back and forth as the troubled child that we witness growing into assured womanhood.

Director Cameron Watson moves the action at full speed and yet allows the actors moments of stillness that tug at our hearts. Perhaps the revelation in James' play is that no matter what happens, love can heal the deepest hurts if we have the courage to embrace it.

Rogue Machine Theatre are now at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles. For reservations call (855) 585-5185 or www.roguemachinetheatre.net

Photos by John Perrin Flynn