As the lights dimmed in McCarter Theater, the saucy voiceover urging you to turn off your cell phone transported you to the outlandish reality of Christopher L. Mee's play, "Wintertime." With titles like "Big Love," "First Love" and "True Love" to his name, it comes as no surprise that Mee's play, "Wintertime," explores love and the jealousy and joy it leaves in its wake.
The characters' whimsical, often poetic, dialogue combined with their raucous and ridiculous romantic interactions bestow a truly entertaining experience on the audience.
Soft lighting illuminates the iridescent snow globe summerhouse, and as the play begins the vacationers arrive, each paradoxically looking for time alone. Conflict ignites when Maria (Marsha Mason) and her lover's weekend is interrupted by the arrivals of Maria's husband, Frank, Frank's boyfriend and Maria's son and his girlfriend.
The characters search for emotional peace of mind in a family and a world that don't have much to offer idealists. Each wants to be foremost in someone's emotions, but in a web of infidelities and suspicions, they cannot find the comfort and affection they need.
Jonathan's chance to propose to Ariel is ruined by the idiosyncratic interference of his mother, Maria, and her lover, Francois. As Jonathan tries to cope with Ariel's anger at the interference, we see how these characters are forced "to go where anxiety drives [them]."
The characters' exploration of deeply felt romantic tension is poignant, but peppered with brilliant comic gestures. Francois, Maria, Frank and Frank's lover engage one another in a passionate argument over the latent insecurities that surround their ever-expanding love triangle. When Francois cannot secure a promise of fidelity from Maria, he initiates a triumphant scene of door slamming. The cast joins in, their comical rage choreographed to opera music.
A farcical striptease, a refreshing use of the word, "dweeb," and a laughable scene of glass breaking and dish throwing punctuate the disagreements and lovers' quarrels.
Michael Cerveris brings a vitality and comedic disdain to his role as Francois, the exaggeratedly promiscuous Frenchman. His playful zeal drives surfacing suspicions as the other characters discover just how many people appreciate Francois's libido. Mason and Cerveris's performances yield theatrical fireworks as they bicker over their complicated opinions on faithfulness and marriage.
Bob (Danny Mastrogiorgio), the innocuously creepy local man of many hats, garners laughter through his delightfully quirky performance, and Jacqueline (Tina Benko) brings an element of the ridiculous to her role as the oversexed doctor.
Despite love's foibles throughout the play, "Wintertime" culminates to a merry New Year's feast of Vikings and partial nudity. Not quite for the faint of heart, the cast enjoys a brilliant romp in lingerie . . . or not in lingerie. While love is the first concern of the play, the underwear shimmy near the end of Act Two takes a close second.
Though playwright Charles L. Mee states that he likes "plays that are not too neat, too finished, too presentable," director David Schweizer renders "Wintertime" remarkably conceived and thoroughly entertaining. Complemented by sophisticated set design and a vibrant cast, the play makes its audience meditate on the nature of love as well as laugh out loud.
The characters of "Wintertime" must choose where to place their trust and fidelity, and as they do, we see that happiness comes at a price. Maria must choose between her lover and her husband, and Frank must choose between his lover and his wife. These are choices they have to make in order to find the emotional satisfaction they seek, which means that a completely balanced, symmetrical ending isn't possible.
Mee states that his plays are "broken, jagged, filled with sharp edges, filled with things that take sudden turns, careen into each other, smash up, veer off in sickening turns." "Wintertime" veers, turns and careens through heightened emotions, inciting laughter along the way, but also contemplating what it means to love someone, and how to go about loving. Through its spirited, comedic antics, "Wintertime" brings to light the imperfections and virtues that make love and relationships worthwhile.
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