Bad Dates- A Shoe Fetish Tale
By: BWW Jan. 28, 2004
Bad Dates- A New Play by Theresa Rebeck
Bad Dates is a 90 minute one-woman show starring the very talented Julie White. White plays Haley - a single, divorced mother in her early 40's that's living in
Early on in the show, Haley realizes that she misses both men and sex and decides to give dating another try. Her story is very real and as, someone who is single myself; I could give Haley a run for her money with some of my own horror stories!
During most of the show Haley is trying on outfits and shoes as she tries to get ready for her dates. She's got a major shoe fetish which is made apparant by her collection of 600 pairs being scattered all over the set. Everything in the show including the men she dates and other situations are constantly compared to her shoes as frames of reference. This shoe obsession was very reminiscient of Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City with her Manolos
.
Haley is set up with a series of men including a cheap gay law professor who goes out with her for a free meal, a player, a lawyer with a keen interest in bugs, and a boring man who talks about nothing but the cholesterol content of his food because he's worried about his colon.
The story is hysterical, and you feel for Haley while you're watching it- rooting for her in her quest to find love in the city. She talks to the audience throughout the show which helps you to feel both her pleasure and her pain. This combines together to make the show entertaining, and engaging as well as intimate in its presentation .This play seems to appeal to women more then men, yet my date seemed to enjoy it very much because at the root - it's about dating and relationships. At the end of the show, the differences between men and women was apparent: I related to her dating stories, and my date was more impressed that she took her clothes off in front of us.
Bad Dates- Playing at Playwrights Horizons
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