Becky Shaw's blind date with Max the wealth manager is a train wreck – it doesn't start well because she's late, flustered, over-dressed and doesn't have a mobile phone, and the end of the evening is even worse than the beginning. But Becky's troubles, sadly, don't end there. Her boss is a little too ready to console her and a little too 'personal' with his comforting – he's a serial rescuer of damsels in distress, in fact the last damsel he rescued was his newlywed wife, which is why they set Becky up on the date in the first place. And the new wife, also Max's sister (adopted) ends up getting a little too close to her quasi-sibling in the aftermath of Becky's neediness.
As you can imagine this allows for some brilliant comic scenes. Which could be why Gina Gionfriddo, the playwright, has been in the running for a Pulitzer Prize. And why this play was a huge off-Broadway hit in 2009, enjoying a very extended run.
This play will produce many a cringe worthy moment – this is the very worst side of needy women and commitment-phobe men - but the dialogue promises to be snappy, so hopefully you don't need to close your eyes and put your fingers in your ears to stop yourself being embarrassed for Becky, who if you do a bit of digging into the play, is actually based on
Vanity Fair's Becky Sharp. So these sorts of emotional and romantic entanglements aren't just the domain of us modern folk.
Look out for the work of David Wilson Barnes especially, he 'invented' the role of Max, having played it at the premiere and off-Broadway.
