RELATIONSHIP HELL
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The most hellish, or meanest, offering is Gorgo’s Mother, Laurence Klavan’s anatomy of love addiction, which seems aimlessly plotted until you see how consistently one-sided its relationships are. Brian (Robert Bailey II), a publisher made larcenous by love, steals books to give money to his demure colleague Joanne (Jacquelyn Ritz), who gives it to her adored Kenny (John Neisler), a dope dealer, who hands it to his obsession, Terry (Mary Booker), a doped-up “escort.” Obviously no one loves the right one, or, as the playwright says three times, “Some things only look big until you see them next to other things.”
This portrait of wasted feelings and dead-end affections is lightened by the oddball traits Klavan has given his lovelorn losers: Terry is convinced she’s Asian, Joanne tells how–possessed by a Kafka-esque impulse–she once dressed up like a cockroach, Brian loves monster lore (hence the title), and Kenny is upset by how his apartment’s newly installed windows let in far too much of the world. Richard Shavzin’s staging, a Chicago premiere, jerks a few too many laughs from these offbeat confessions, however; and we’re not quite prepared for the way the play darkens into a dramatic dead end. Bailey is quite touching as the odd man out; every time his Brian tries to connect, he only confirms his loneliness.
