Better known as a standup comedian, Lewis Black has carved out a parallel career as a playwright and Eclipse brings his 2011 venture into Neil Simon territory, One Slight Hitch, to Columbus in a handsome production sensitively directed by Michael Day.
One Slight Hitch gives us a 1981 glimpse at a Cincinnati family as Doc (Rick Redfern) and Delia (Colleen Cunningham), and two of their daughters, PB (Mackenzie Biemer) and Melanie (Anna Soppelsa), prepare to marry off their oldest daughter Courtney (Liane Golightly-Kissner), an acclaimed writer, to a well-appointed therapist in training Harper (Robbie Davidson), when Courtney’s ex, Ryan (Greg Kissner) blows in on an ill-advised Kerouac nostalgia tour.
There’s an extremely funny 45 minutes in One Slight Hitch, but unfortunately, that’s inside a long-feeling hour and fifty minutes with one intermission. There’s no emotion the characters have, no revelation, that doesn’t get belabored at excessive length, rapid-fire exchanges too often lose steam in repetition.
It’s hard to blame any of the actors for lines that feel built for the kind of hard stopped, “Print that!” punchline Black’s comedy hinges on, even when they feel like they arrive at a right angle to the way we heard the character speaking minutes ago. Similarly, several scenes left me scratching my head as we watched characters talking about what was going on in other rooms of the house instead of the play finding a way to show us that action.
Within those confines, there are some delightful performances. The scenes with the sisters talking among one another have a more lived-in rhythm that really sings and lets the relationships shine. Soppelsa’s expert comic timing lands short stabs, deflating the other characters’ seriousness and absorption at exactly the right times. Biemer uses her character’s naïveté and defense mechanisms to ground some fun pratfalls. Golightly-Kissner uses an unshakable commitment to the moment in order to keep Courtney a person in the face of the other characters using her as a focus for their own desires and dreams.
Within those confines, there are some delightful performances. The scenes with the sisters talking among one another have a more lived-in rhythm that really sings and lets the relationships shine. Soppelsa’s expert comic timing lands short stabs, deflating the other characters’ seriousness and absorption at exactly the right times. Biemer uses her character’s naïveté and defense mechanisms to ground some fun pratfalls. Golightly-Kissner uses an unshakable commitment to the moment in order to keep Courtney a person in the face of the other characters using her as a focus for their own desires and dreams.
Day’s direction occasionally feels like it could amp up the physical, door-slamming lunacy but solidly lets the characters breathe and gives each performance space. I was also struck by the gorgeous, perfectly of-its-time set Day also designed, Candis Witt’s costumes, and perfectly chosen props from Kate Charlesworth-Miller.
While One Slight Hitch would work better for fans specifically looking for this type of family comedy or Black’s style of acerbic one-liners, I’m glad to see Eclipse settling in a more permanent home and filling the nice of bringing theater to the northern part of the city.
One Slight Hitch runs through February 13 at Eclipse Theatre (915 Schrock Rd.) with performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. For tickets and more information, visit eclipsecolumbus.com/one_slight_hitch.