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<\/p>\nIn Off-Broadway\u2019s \u2018Lonely Planet,\u2019 Coping with AIDS Trauma on a Human Scale: REVIEW<\/b><\/p>\n
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When an empty chair appears in the middle of Jody\u2019s map shop, he\u2019s a bit stumped. Carl, the eccentric gadabout to Jody\u2019s cerebral recluse in this platonic odd couple<\/a>, says there\u2019s more where that came from. He\u2019s not kidding: By midway through Steven Dietz\u2019s 1993 two-hander <\/span>Lonely Planet<\/span><\/i>, which opened in a Keen Company revival off-Broadway on October 19, the stage of the Clurman Theatre looks like a game of chair Tetris. <\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s a funny sort of sight gag until we realize the devastating truth: Each one belonged to someone they knew who\u2019s been claimed by a plague they hardly need to name. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the tradition of late 20th-century AIDS plays, <\/span>Lonely Planet<\/span><\/i> is no sweeping epic, like Tony Kushner\u2019s <\/span>Angels in America<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>returning to Broadway<\/span><\/a> this spring, nor does it assume the venomous urgency of Larry Kramer\u2019s <\/span>The Normal Heart<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>last revived<\/span><\/a> on Broadway in 2011. Dietz\u2019s play unfolds on a far more modest scale, offering an intimate look at how men<\/a> grappled with the everydayness of suddenly living at death\u2019s door and the fear that they might be next.<\/span><\/p>\n The entry to Jody\u2019s quaint little shop (designed by Anshuman Bhatia) might as well be the gates of hell; his refusal to set foot outside is so complete he\u2019s been crashing in the back room. As lovingly embodied by Arnie Burton, Jody is hardly a portrait of paranoia; he\u2019s actually pretty even-keeled until provoked by Carl\u2019s stunt into facing the fears he\u2019s been so content to hide from. <\/span><\/p>\n Though Carl is out on the front lines sorting dead men<\/a>\u2019s belongings, his coping strategy involves a certain level of delusion as well. Exuberantly played by Matt McGrath, Carl waltzes in with fanciful stories of his workday in a carousel of careers \u2014 one day he\u2019s an art restorer, the next an automotive glass repairman or a university professor, and so on. <\/span><\/p>\n The two men<\/a> are clearly best friends, but they don\u2019t really know much about each other\u2019s lives, a paradox they turn to ponder as the crumbling world outside draws them closer together. Burton, last seen off-Broadway juggling impressive double roles in <\/span>The Government Inspector<\/span><\/i><\/a>, maneuvers the breakdown of Jody\u2019s denial with a heartbreaking emotional clarity. His face-off with debilitating anxiety will undoubtedly feel familiar to many men<\/a>, regardless of generation. Recently seen as a droll drag mother in <\/span>The Legend of Georgia McBride<\/span><\/i><\/a>, McGrath brings a grounded flamboyance to Carl, by turns the life of the party (such as it is) and the bearer of blunt truths. <\/span><\/p>\n As directed by Keen Company artistic director Jonathan Silverstein, Dietz\u2019s play remains quietly captivating in its simplicity, and the easy intimacy between Burton and McGrath is remarkably moving. Between its heavy influence by Eug\u00e8ne Ionesco\u2019s absurdist comedy <\/span>The Chairs <\/span><\/i>(1952) and its setting in a map shop (where maps are fixtures of what\u2019s known), the play\u2019s conceit can feel a bit overdetermined. <\/span><\/p>\n But its portraits of individual response to daily collective trauma could hardly be more relevant to 2017, nearly 25 years after the play\u2019s premiere. And as the theatre community was reminded by the death of <\/span>composer Michael Friedman<\/span><\/a>\u00a0this fall, the reality of AIDS is hardly a distant memory, even for the relatively affluent. Each chair piled onto the stage has its own distinct personality; the overwhelming emptiness of them all evokes the ghosts of so many stories left untold. <\/span><\/p>\n Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar<\/a> The post In Off-Broadway\u2019s \u2018Lonely Planet,\u2019 Coping with AIDS Trauma on a Human Scale: REVIEW<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.towleroad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/LonelyPlanet028.jpg?resize=480%2C336\")
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\n(photos: carol rosegg)<\/em><\/p>\n