BWW Reviews: Seattle Rep's THE COMPARABLES Examines Powerful Women

What does it take for women to be accepted as equals and succeed in the business world? Do they just need to be as ruthless and cutthroat as men or is there another way? The Seattle Rep's world premiere of Laura Schellhardt's "The Comparables" takes a look at these very questions and while we may have gotten an inside look at the world of powerful women I'm not sure we ever really got an answer to any of those questions.

On the surface "The Comparables" may look like a female version of Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross" as we are in the real estate office of The Boutique, a high powered mostly female environment with the take no prisoners Bette (Linda Gehringer) at the helm. Then there's the somewhat lost in the shuffle Monica (Cheyenne Casebier) who's finding out that the 10 years of earnest hard work she has put in with Bette may not be enough especially when the ruthless young Iris (Keiko Green) walks in. And when scandal threatens Bette's business (not to mention her reality show deal) will these women stick together?

It's an interesting examination of these three very different women with Bette as the powerhouse who has made it but still desperately clings to the top, the reliable Monica who thinks that hard work and fair dealings should be rewarded and the brash Iris who doesn't feel the need to pay her dues to succeed. But beyond it's similarities to Mamet's work; Schellhardt's play examines what women do to get ahead in business. And while the journey to get ahead was engaging and at times funny I don't feel we ever got much resolution with the piece. In the end these idealistic women treated each other as badly as the men have treated them leaving me to wonder what was the point. Or maybe that was the point. I guess that's all up to interpretation but I can say that as fun as the journey was, the ending fell flat.

Casebier completely shines in the role as her complex and layered performance really delves into her character. Her arc in the show is truly amazing. Green and Gehringer also turn in some fine performances and keep their characters engaging but I didn't see as many layers or growth from them which I feel would have made their characters more relatable.

The set from Carey Wong is a thing of beauty and perfectly appointed as to be quite functional and conducive to the flow of the show that clips along thanks to the direction of Braden Abraham. I'm just not sure of the point that Schellhardt was trying to get across. Is it that women can be as bad as men? Is it that women should be better than men? Or is it that we shouldn't feel the need to look anymore at the differences? I'm just not sure. And with that I give "The Comparables" a MEH+ with my three letter rating system. An interesting look at high-powered women that didn't really payoff.

"The Comparables" performs at the Seattle Rep through March 29th. For tickets or information contact the Seattle Rep box office at 206-443-2222 or visit them online at www.seattlerep.org.

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