Clever, twisted and appallingly, distressingly realistic its examination of race, racism and misogyny, This is How it Goes isn't Neil LaBute's greatest work. But it is very good, a compelling depiction of all-too human cruelty and callousness from the Barrington author who never shies from—as the nameless antihero of This is How it Goes would put it—'calling a spade a spade.'
It's true that LaBute's dialogue sometimes seems more like a calculated attempt to jolt the audience into an I-can't-believe-they-just-said-that shock rather than an honest means to further the story. Moreover, LaBute is predictably formulaic with the piece's end-with-a-twist structure. That said, This is How it Goes remains engaging and provocative, with director Darrell Cox eliciting a trio of utterly believable performances from this three-person ensemble.
The narrator who frames This is How it Goes is unreliable; Man ( Eric W. Burgher ) admits as much upfront in one of many passages that dispense with the fourth wall and make the audience a silent co-conspirator to his involvement with the unnamed woman he's pined for since high school. Back then, Woman ( Lindsay Schmidt ) was a pretty popular cheerleader; Man was a fat, forgettable nerd. When the two run into each other at a mall a dozen years after graduation, their dialogue is a testimony to LaBute's unflagging ability to get the contemporary vernacular exactly right. You've heard this conversation before; perhaps you've even had it. LaBute's ear is unerring as the jokey, slightly desperate-to-please Man and the warm, slightly vulnerable Woman stammer and banter, imbuing casual conversation with a vibe that hints at the potential for something less casual and more complex in the future.
The only character given a name is Cody, Woman's high school sweetheart-turned-husband ( Sean Nix ) . A track star in high school, Cody is a standout for several other in This is How it Goes' small-town, U.S.A. setting. He's rich and he's Black. With Man, Woman and Cody established as points on a triangle, LaBute weaves a tale that takes the most repugnant ( and the most common ) of stereotypes out of the shadows and forces his audiences to stare at them—head-on, under a glare. And while the racism in This is How it Goes is shocking ( although only because of the manner in which it is acknowledged aloud ) , so is the appalling, everyday misogyny in the piece.
In laying bare the secret flaws of everyday folk who could well be your friends and neighbors, LaBute attacks with the precision and matter-of-factness of a master biologist doing a vivisection. The results are inevitably distressing and squirm-inducing in their authenticity. The truth at the core of This is How it Goes is both undeniable and unpleasant—but without acknowledging it and examining it as LaBute so compellingly does, it's a truth that will continue to rot with the toxicity of wound covered up and left to fester.
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Playwright: Neil LaBute . At: Profiles Theatre, 4147 N. Broadway . Phone: 773/449-1815; $25, $30. Runs through: March 2
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