Review - Marie and Bruce: Screams From A Marriage

"Let me tell you something. I find my husband so Goddamned irritating that I'm planning to leave him."

Things aren't going well for the title couple of The New Group's terrific revival of Wallace Shawn's scenes from an abstract Marriage, Marie and Bruce. You can tell as soon as you enter the Acorn theatre. There's Bruce (Frank Whaley) contentedly snoozing away in bed while his wife Marie (Marisa Tomei) sits impatiently next to him, smoking a cigarette. At first it seems Marie might be angry at us for making her wait so long, but when she abruptly begins to speak, the reason for her intense agitation is bluntly revealed.

"You're driving me insane! I can't stand living with you for one more minute!" she informs her waking spouse as they go through the paces of what appears to be a morning ritual of verbal abuse. Addressing both the audience and Bruce (who is not aware of our presence), she bullies and sarcastically mocks him for buying a noisy typewriter, making a lunch date with a friend who has a special interest in the history of urine and feces and for not even having the courtesy of fixing her a simple breakfast.

And yet it's not as ugly as you might expect. Shawn tells us nothing of his central couple; not their history, their occupations or their viewpoints, so without any reason for emotional attachment we can guiltlessly feel free to be entertained by Marie's over-the-top complaints and Bruce's complacent non-reactions to them. The play isn't funny, but it's humorous in an oddball sort of way. Particularly since director Scott Elliot offers a light, urban fairy-tale tone to the proceedings. Set designer Derek McClane surrounds the actors on three sides with tall walls of loaded bookshelves and the pieces of the first scene's large bed break down to provide a dining room setting and a café.

The plot-less day-in-the-life has Bruce, who seemed a bit of a lummox at first, suddenly appearing as interesting and popular at a party they attend that night while Marie feels self-conscious and isolated. A merry-go-round of meaningless conversation is wonderfully depicted by having snippets of talk randomly heard as the guests are seated at a revolving table.

By the time the couple has settled at a café for dessert, it has become apparent that Whaley's Bruce is more emotionally aggressive than he appears and while Tomei's Marie has a softer, needy side. If the characters they play are intentionally underwritten, the two leads provide traces of empathy that seep out as the evening progresses. But perhaps the most common reaction to the play might be gratitude for not being in that sort of relationship, and for that reason Marie and Bruce could be considered the feel-good show of the season.

Photos of Marisa Tomei and Frank Whaley by Monique Carboni.

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