Review: MECHANICS OF LOVE

The way we love speaks volumes about who we are as people and how we relate to others. Dipika Guha's MECHANICS OF LOVE tests the boundaries of the power of love with a unique foursome who couldn't be more different.

The focused, in-tune, and harcore-loving ballerina, Francesca (Anastasia Olowin) has fallen in love with a man named Glen (Sathya Sridharan), who has forgetten that he is already married. No matter how much time they spend together or how intensely they feel about each other, there is a chance he will wake up forgetting her. The woman he is married to, Faizi (Victoria Frings), is the exact opposite of Francesca - she is grounded, organized, practical and strictly business when it comes to the game of love.

The literal inclusion of the mechanic, Georg (Eric Miler), helps parallel the scientific outlook when it comes to considering feelings on life and love in a more measurable way and sparks the contrast amongst the group about how certain human emotions are explored. While Francesca puts it all on the table, Faizi and Glen view her world as absurd and not sustainable. Gutha's writing presents unique viewpoints about the mysteries of love that have much relevance in today's technology-driven society.

Under Elena Araoz's direction, this foursome explodes on stage with their strong and opposing energies that are felt for the full 90 minutes. Olowin is demure and charming with her innocence and blissful zest for life and all things joyful. It is welcome breeze in the sea of life's cynics and skeptics. Some may argue that Sridharan's Glen is not a far off representation of the often forgetful or emotionally unavailable nature of men that is possessed with his illness that prevents him from moving forward with relationships. Frings is spot on as the modern power women who puts her career first and doesn't have as much time for children or family. She is the perfect match for Miler who likes to solve problems realistically and has no patience for complicated ideologies. It's fascinating to become engaged in these different personality types, as they try to navigate life's most intimate relationships.

For a thought-provoking and poignant exploration of human emotion, MECHANICS OF LOVE, provides a complex storyline and character palette that leaves audiences connected and full of reactions well after the final scene comes to an end.

MECHANICS OF LOVE (through September 24, 2016)

To-By- For Productions

Paradise Factory, 4 East 4th Street, between 2nd Avenue and Bowery, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2581938