Alumnae Theatre Company opened its 2016-17 season with Melissa James Gibson’s This, directed by Rebecca Ballarin, on the Mainstage on Friday night. I caught the matinée yesterday afternoon.
Four college friends, now in their late 30s, share life, love and loss in this poignant, sometimes wacky tale of relationships, and navigating life’s changes and chaos. New parents Marrell (Audra Yulanda Gray) and Tom (Andrew Batten) struggle with sleepless, sexless nights while their friend Jane (Amanda Jane Smith) deals with being a widow and single mom. Meanwhile, their single gay friend Alan (Michael Harvey), whose exceptional memory has earned him a career as a mnemonist, is itching for a new job. Marrell’s attempt to set Jane up with French doctor Jean Pierre (Christian Martel) at a dinner party has an unexpected outcome and, coupled with various assumptions and perceptions, all hell breaks loose – forcing the tight-knit gang to examine their relationships; unable to revise history as Alan corrects their memories of pivotal conversations and moments.
Really nice work from the cast with this sharp, mercurial script as the characters riff on modern life’s foibles – from Brita filters to Baby Bjorns – giving a contemporary Noel Coward vibe to the banter. Smith is adorably neurotic and poignantly adrift as Jane, coming up on the first anniversary of her husband’s death; his ashes still in an urn on top of her fridge. Scattered and trying her best to be a trouper, she’s a mess under the relatively together exterior she presents to her friends. Gray brings a great combination of fastidiousness and frustration to Marrell; in command of her household, Marrell is annoyed and perhaps a bit fearful about her non-existent sex life with Tom. Batten gives Tom a lovely beleaguered lost boy quality; desperate, like Marrell, for a decent night’s sleep, Tom struggles with issues of desire, as well as self-esteem.
Harvey is a laugh-out-loud delight as Alan; sharp-witted and self-involved, he’s a lovable pain in the ass who keeps the group’s memories of conversations on point. Martel brings a great sense of amusement and observation to Jean Pierre, a physician with Doctors Without Borders; a cultural and social outsider looking in on the group, like Alan he offers perspective on their problems – but his patience only goes so far.
Life is what it is – and sometimes what it is is messy. Love and loss, assumptions and perspectives in sharp, touching, painfully funny This.
This runs on the Alumnae mainstage until Oct 1; you can purchase tickets in advance online or reserve by phone at 416-364-4170, ext. 1.
In the meantime, check out the trailer:
life with more cowbell 
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