Review: CATCO's SEX WITH STRANGERS Tantalizes with Title but Drags in Dialogue

For a show with such a shocking title, "Sex with Strangers" surprisingly lacks spark.

Laura Eason's play, a modern love story that focuses on the challenges associated with dating in the digital age, has an interesting message at its core, yet these deeper musings on technology's role in a 21st-century romance are buried under two hours of profanity-riddled conversation.

As the play's two characters, Nicolette Montana and Matthew Sierra gamely engage in the script's rapid-fire repartee. Both give strong performances and neither miss a beat as they enthusiastically pepper their on-stage discussion with well-timed, witty ripostes.

Montana and Sierra do what they can to enliven the play, but rambling, jargon-filled monologues unfortunately slow the pacing and hinder timely plot development.

Act one begins on a snowy night in Michigan. Seated in a book-lined living room inside a cozy lakeside cabin is Olivia (Montana), a novelist and school teacher, who is slaving over her latest manuscript. Her quiet solitude is soon disrupted, however, when Ethan (Sierra), strides through the door.

A young, tech-obsessed blogger-turned-bestselling-author, Ethan immediately captures Olivia's attention with his melodramatic whining over the cabin's spotty Wi-Fi. When it becomes clear that the other attendees of the writer's retreat will not make it due to the blizzard, the two settle in with a bottle of wine and begin a verbal sparring match that provides the audience with small snippets of background information on each character.

As the night wears on, Olivia's initial annoyance gives way to affection as she finds herself falling for Ethan, despite his cavalier attitude toward the literary community and the unorthodox reason for his rise to fame -- his online blog of previous sexual conquests resulted in a tell-all memoir, his name on The New York Times Bestseller List and an in-the-works movie deal.

For two authors who came to the retreat with the intention of honing their craft, Olivia and Ethan don't do much writing. When they aren't arguing over Olivia's ingrained insecurity over her writing ability or Ethan's ignorance of classic works of literature, they are kissing on the darkened stage, accompanied by sensual music and soft lighting.

The second act picks up the pacing as Olivia and Ethan return to daily life. But, as Olivia's new book is prepared for publication, she worries that the more she gets to know the story behind Ethan's success, the more of a stranger he becomes.

Fans of quick-witted dramas such as Netflix's "House of Cards," a show on which Eason is a producer, will find familiarity in a narrative that exposes how inherent weaknesses in human nature are woven into relationships. Yet, unlike a recurring series, "Sex with Strangers" is tasked with building rapport between the audience and two fairly one-dimensional characters in a condensed time period, which is a challenge that the predictable plot ultimately fails to overcome.

"Sex with Strangers" attempts to address the intriguing issue of perception versus reality against a backdrop of Internet anonymity and viral celebrity. The concept is interesting, fresh and thoughtful, but the overly loquacious script extinguishes the play's fiery and passionate potential.

CATCO will present "Sex with Strangers" at the Vern Riffe Center's Studio Two Theatre from Feb. 15 through March 5.

Showtimes and ticket information can be found on CATCO's website.

The Vern Riffe Center is located at 77 S. High St.

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