Virago Theatre Company of San Francisco's presents AROUSAL, George Pfirrmann's dark comedy paired with Harold Pinter's The Lover from July 24th through August 2 at The Flea Theater (41 White Street in Tribeca). Chloe Bronzan directs actors Laura Lundy Paine and Dan Fagan in this provocative pair of one acts travelling from their critically acclaimed engagements at San Francisco's Phoenix Theatre and the Theatre Asylum Lab in Los Angeles. The Lover was nominated for four Broadway World Award including Best Actress for Laura Lundy Paine and Chloe Bronzan for Best Director.
At the start of AROUSAL a Ukrainian prostitute waits for her next client as she plays a game of online scrabble, ostensibly to better learn the English language. The client, a 35 year old virgin, arrives and confides to her that he is afflicted with Asperger's syndrome, a mental disorder that doesn't allow him to connect with other people. Yet he finds himself drawn to this older, seemingly detached "professional" who soothes his anxiety with vodka and manages, sexually, to connect with him. Desperately lonely and in need of friendship, he returns the following day to discover that through his interest in her he has unknowingly tapped into her own sense of isolation and despair. Together in their alienation they begin to perceive they are not dissimilar. The Lover revolves around a staid middle class English couple, Richard and Sarah, who spice up their comfortable suburban lives with what appears to be an open marriage. He accepts that his wife has a lover who pays her regular visits while he labors away each day at his office. The caveat comes when she questions him about his own fidelity and finds that his daily routine is occasionally interrupted by visits to a prostitute, a revelation that opens up Sarah's insecurity...or does it? When Sarah's lover, "Max" arrives the following day it is Richard who walks through the door, and the two of them begin a game of erotic role play that is at once funny and alarming.Pictured: "AROUSAL," by George Pfirrmann. Laura Lundy-Paine and Dan Fagan. Photo by Luis A. Solorzano.
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