Last night I went to see Life in a Marital Institution (20 years of monogomy in one terrifying hour), a laugh out loud one-man show by James Braly at the SoHo Playhouse.
At the core of the monologue is Braly’s tale of the marriage of his sister on her deathbed. At one point she asks him if he’d trade places with her. He counters, “Would you want to be married to my wife?”
The show is an unabashed, but loving, critique of his own marriage to the highly educated, highly opinionated, and very aggressive and progressive Susan, who would fit in well with various strata of far-left Park Slope parents.
Doulas. Homebirths, Placentas in the freezer. Organic food. Susan is a familiar Park Slope-style character as she is lampooned through Braly’s devoted eyes.
Conflict is an important component of their marriage and it seems to bring zest and even sexual energy to their relationship.
Braly’s musings on the difficulties of monogomy and even simply agreeing with the person he has decided to spend his life with is well worth a trip to this well-written, and well-staged show as directed by Brooklyn’s Hal Brooks.
A one-man show is a high-wire act and Braly rarely falters. Low key, appealing, articulate with a wicked grin Braly is a thinking-woman’s sex symbol no one would dare go out with after seeing this show. No doubt, he’d be fun to hang around with at a SoHo bar (or theater for that matter).
The show set on a simple stage with three plastic chairs and a venetian blind background moves quickly and is consistently entertaining. The transitions from one story to another are masterfully enhanced by lighting changes and the thematic progression of the show’s content. The stories build on each other and ultimately illuminate Braly’s need for psychic noise and chaos as a way to avoid that most fearful thing at all: the silence of his own brain.
Braly posits marriage as a creative continuation of one’s childhood and family dysfunction. Depressing, yes. But with Braly’s observational eye, everything is fodder for humor and virtuosic story telling.
What makes the show more than a “Take my wife, please” anti-marriage rant, is that Braly obviously feels deep love for his wife, his children and his sister, who died young of cancer. He is also willing, incessantly so, to make fun of himself.
What would his life be without the strange, exasperating, and interesting people that surround him. He certainly wouldn’t have a great show to deliver every night through August 31st.
The show which was produced by my old friend, Anna Becker, is at the Soho Playhouse. 15 Vandam Street between Varick and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan.