A TASTY PUNCH NEEDS TO BE SPIKED
Flowing dialogue, skillful performances, and Audrey Alford’s solid direction make Micheline Auger’s banal and predictable Donkey Punch, a play which attempts to explore the romantic relationships of two yupster couples in an ultra-contemporary setting, watchable and occasionally entertaining.
Sexually carnivorous attorney Kareena (a wound up Cleo Gray) sets up her prudish best girlfriend Sam, (a charming Lauren Dortch-Crozier), on a date with low-budget soft-core porn-horror filmmaker Kyle (an energized and magnetic Jon McCormick). Kareena met Kyle a number of months prior on an internet dating site, right before she got together with her current live-in boyfriend Teddy (Michael Drew). Kareena and Kyle had only one interaction—a phone conversation—and although nothing materialized she found him amusing enough to recommend to her friend. Sam is reluctant, but on the date the charismatic Kyle wins her over. When next we see Sam her hair is dyed platinum and her dress is showing cleavage. Gone is the prude; Sam is now on a journey of psychosexual exploration. She has decided—being a filmmaker herself—to make a pseudo-documentary about a sexual innocent who finds herself in the world of soft-core porn, casting herself in the lead.
The characters are young, good-looking and familiar—we’ve all seen them in the untrendy-trendy West Village bars enjoying their craft beers and cucumber cocktails. They speak in a language we all recognize about problems and thoughts we all have. Unfortunately, they have nothing new or insightful to say. Ms. Auger’s goal seems to be to paint an accurate portrait of these individuals, which she does, but at the expense of the drama. No one is desperate on Jason Simms’ functional set. Nothing is vital. The stakes don’t have enough weight. These people’s issues amount to little more than neuroses, and while we can imagine these growing into forbidding mountains over the years, for now they are hillocks easily traversed.
The following would be a spoiler if it wasn’t obvious early on—secretly Kareena wants Kyle. We guess this almost from the beginning but the playwright chooses to keep Kareena’s desire secret from us until the climax. This puts the audience ahead of the action; sitting through most of the play with this knowledge feels like being stuck watching someone else’s luggage. Donkey Punch might have had more cache had Ms. Auger revealed Kareena’s longing to us sooner and then built on that. Perhaps Ms. Auger is concerned with looking foolish writing about things she doesn’t know and so limits herself to what is familiar to her; the play has an autobiographical feel with respect to its characters and ideas, as well as a sense of hesitation when it comes to the drama. But given Ms. Auger’s obvious talent and abilities, my hope is that next time she will transcend observation and put her personages in situations where more is at stake than simply a passing relationship.
photos by Hunter Canning
Donkey Punch
Ivy Theatre Company
SoHo Playhouse
15 Vandam Street (6th Ave & Varick / 7th Avenue)
scheduled to end on August 31, 2014
for tickets, call 212-691-1555 or visit www.SohoPlayhouse.com
