Review by James Wilkinson
‘Maytag Virgin’ – Written by Audrey Cefaly. Directed by Eleanor Holdridge. Scenic Designer: Kris Stone. Costume Designer: Charlene Alexis Gross. Lighting Design: Karen Perlow. Sound Designer: Scott Stauffer. Presented by Merrimack Repertory Theatre through February 2, 2020
The emotional effect of Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s production of Maytag Virgin is a peculiar one. I’m hard pressed to think of a scene where I was able to stop poking holes in what I was seeing. The continuity between two scenes didn’t seem to quite match up. Motivations for certain character elements were questionable. Deep in Act Two, as the play’s action begins to pick up, the thought crossed my mind that entire scenes from Act One could have and perhaps should have been cut. And yet, by the end, none of this seemed to matter. As I was driving away from the theater, all of the “problems” I had with the production melted away in my mind, leaving me with only a lovely feeling of serenity. The production’s high points had stuck. I don’t think that the play is especially notable (like it or not, those story issues are still there), but I don’t say that as a reason to keep you from seeing the production. Sometimes it’s enough for a show to be pleasant and enjoyable the way that this one is. I had a good time without feeling emotionally manipulated the way I often do at plays aiming for the kind of feelings that this one invokes. There’s a warmth and generosity that the audience members bring to the play, allowing them to fill in any gaps and by some churning internal force, the elements pull together.
Lizzy Nash (Kati Brazda) and Jack Key (David Adkins) live next door to each other in a small Alabama town. Both are teachers at the same high school and both have recently lost their respective spouses. We’re going to follow their first year of living side by side and that’s pretty much all you need to know. Audrey Cefaly’s script takes a remarkably relaxed approach to its narrative as each scene doesn’t really build on the proceeding, (at least, not in the conventional sense). When the lights come up on a new day, it’s as if we’re simply dropping by these characters, meeting up with them on some mostly unremarkable day when Lizzy and Jack happened to interact. We’re taking a slow burn approach, letting us get a feel for the characters before Cefaly starts nudging them towards action. It’s a kind of Kerplunk story structure that we (or, at least, me) can appreciate only in retrospect when you can take a step back. Yes, some of those early scenes may feel unnecessary in the moment, but remove too many of them and we aren’t invested enough in the characters for the ending to work and all of the marbles fall down.
And make no mistake, our easy-going path is heading towards a definitive destination. On the day I saw Maytag Virgin a turn of fate had me listening to another theater critic bemoan the fact that we don’t really get romantic comedies written for the stage the way we do in the movies. To which I now say, well…here you go. Any doubts about which way Maytag Virgin will be going are erased by the time Lizzy confidently tells Jack “You’re not my type” before running offstage. You want to pull her aside, give her a pat on the head and say in your most patronizing tone, “Sure he’s not, Liz. Sure, he’s not.” I mean, how can he not be? You know that the symbolic stars are lining up when you find out that she has an aversion to clothes dryers and he perpetually keeps one on his front porch. They’re not incompatible, they’re going to complete each other. This is a romance to its core, but I want to be clear that I don’t consider that or the inevitability of the plot as a knock against the play. We go into a lot of plays knowing how it’ll turn out, (much of the classical canon comes to mind), the pleasure comes from the journey there.
For a two-hander like this one, much of the play’s success is going to depend on the actors. Of the two parts I think Jack is easily the more underwritten of the two, (his main character trait seems to be that he refuses to take his dryer indoors), but David Adkins manages to bring just enough swagger and natural charm to pull it off. He even manages to sell the play’s final scene when his character takes decisive action in a way that feels more like writer trying to wrap up than a natural progression. That’s fine, though. The play is more Lizzy’s story and Kati Brazda manages to navigate everything the play throws at her and lands on the sweet spot with a performance that makes her character feel like a real person. I’d argue that it isn’t easy as the time-jumping structure of the piece can make certain scenes feel like they come out of nowhere. One early scene has Lizzy incensed that Jack has left that dryer out on the porch, but why does she suddenly care about that now given all of the debris she keeps in her own yard? (Other than it provides the scene with a quick conflict?) It’s been there for weeks and she never seems to care about it so deeply again. The play also putting a great deal of significance on the fact that these two characters are “stuck” following the deaths of their spouses. The trouble here is that we don’t really get enough information about those spouses or who they were before the start of the play for the moments to have much impact.
What then holds it all together? I think that the production is getting a great deal of help from its technical elements which wrap the whole evening in a gentle, magical mood that opens you up for an experience like this. In particular, I’m thinking of the sound design by Scott Stauffer which is absolutely gorgeous. The scene transitions are stitched together with a lush sound of string instruments that you can practically soak in. It’s gentle and touching without cloying sentiment. Karen Perlow’s lighting design knows just when to pull back and when to let the stage have it. At just the right moment, the stars scattered across the back wall spread out across the stage and the effect is just lovely.
And so, it comes together. Director Eleanor Holdridge manages to form a tender production. It might not stick out in your memory, but there’s enough good stuff here for an enjoyable evening at the theater. For tickets and more information, visit their website: www.mrt.org
