Playwright: Gary Henderson. At: Cor Theatre at Red Orchid, 1531 N. Wells St. Tickets: 1-866-811-4111; www.cortheatre.org; $15. Runs through: Sept. 25
The stage is furnished with a barnyard trough pushed up against the back wall, flanked by two galvanized steel buckets. The entire floor is covered by gymnasium mats. This is because our introduction to lovers Tom and Elizabeth is the sight of them charging full-tilt at one another from opposite sides of the playing space to clash in mortal combatshoves, grapples, upsets, takedowns, kicks, punches, fish-hooks and hair pullsrolling and scrambling over the ground in primal animalistic fury
Once upon a time, courting couples seeking wholesome exercise usually found it in ballroom dancing. However, in 2012, they are just as likely to forge compatibility through pursuit of more athletic activitieseven such martial arts as boxing or wrestling. This knowledge only slightly decreases our shock at this display of domestic violence. The exchange of what looks to be brutal blows, however, is executed with a palpable undercurrent of mutual affection, mitigating the initial repellence of this preamble to the participants uttering a word.
U.S. audiences may not be familiar with the poem by Denis Glover upon which fellow New Zealander Gary Henderson bases his play, but attentive listeners will quickly discern the subtext served by Scott Cummins and Julia Neary's balletic mano a mano: the now-elderly Elizabeth is dying, you see, and making her last confessions to her likewise aged husband, Tom. The episodes of corporal contentioneven those drawing bloodreflect the intensity of their passion, recalled in all its fiery splendor as they review the tumultuous events of their lives together, invoking its simmering warmth when the moment comes to face their final adversary together.
It takes 60 minutes for this love song to reach its conclusionan hour of raw emotional disclosure riveting our attention in an auditorium so intimate that opening-night playgoers were visibly holding their breaths during the delicate adagio involving the sharpened blade of a paring-knife. Tony Bozzuto's and Tosha Fowler's performances deliver an infectious synergy, while Lindsay Jones' sound design maintains the environmental synchronicity associated with romanticism, elevating the mood to operatic levels despite the starkly minimal scenic ambience. Victoria DeIorio's direction seamlessly integrates the flow of physical spectacle and verbal revelation, allowing us nary a pause in our anticipation of the ending we know is inevitable. When it arrives, the catharsis can be felt throughout the whole room.