Apropos of Nothing: Ryan Sellers and Irene Hamilton – Photo: Cameron Whitman
For reasons not clear to me, Gregory Kallares’ thoroughly modern comedy Apropos of Nothing, in its D.C. premiere at the Keegan Theatre, is staged as something of a show within the show. Between each pithy scene, the lights dim as actors quick-change and scramble to their places or offstage.
Sounds of backstage bustle are audible until lights up and a quick phrase of transition music plays us into the next scene, as if we were enjoying a live taping of a sitcom or radio drama.
Whether the po-mo framing is apropos of the play’s nimble text, or of Ray Ficca’s canny direction, the idea of it doesn’t necessarily change much in the way of meaning. It helps keep a jaunty pace and rhythm. Also, the conceit doesn’t get in the way of a premise practically assured to produce juicy complications.
Seemingly nice guy Owen casually confesses, clearly to the wrong person, that he’s in love with the wife of his best friend Martin. “It’s nothing,” Owen insists, “a passing phase.”
Owen’s ease about the whole thing is partly the joke, played smoothly throughout by Ryan Sellers, who allows us to see Owen as truthful, and not stupid, even if he seems to sincerely believe that this time bomb he just armed won’t blow up in his and other people’s faces.
Maybe it wouldn’t, if he told someone other than Dave (Dominique Gray), yet another lesson in the dangers of oversharing. But Owen simply can’t not let his feelings flow.
Although, does the lady in question, Lily (Irene Hamilton), love him? Does Lily even know how Owen feels about her? She will, and so will her husband, Martin (Justin Von Stein) — and let’s not forget Owen’s girlfriend Rebecca (Emily Erickson).
Rather than Owen’s bombshell exploding in one mass casualty event, the play progresses in the aforementioned staged format as a succession of consistently funny, tiny explosions. Each affected party gets at least a scene to process and respond to Owen’s earth-shaking revelation. Then comes the fallout.
Through the prism of each character’s distinctly different response to the news, Kalleres lightly probes romance and relationships, dissecting what folks mean by “I love you.”
The sharpest speeches go to a hilariously ranting Lily. Much to Hamilton’s credit — and especially because we hear of Lily quite a bit before we meet her — when she shows up, she’s not what we might have expected her to be as the vaunted object of Owen’s adoration.
She’s realer than that, and deliriously funny, with Hamilton, like Sellers, capturing the off-kilter comic tone that registers from the script to Josh Sticklin’s multi-leveled scenic design.
Erickson’s no-nonsense college professor Rebecca is also fun and full of surprises. Rebecca actually indulges a bit of nonsense from one of her students, persistent puppy-dog Jacob (Drew Sharpe), who, in the play’s opening amuse-bouche, confesses his love for her. His confession blossoms into a subplot that commands far less interest than the Owen-Lily situation.
Kallares employs eager student Jacob, and the thesis he’s writing, to explore other avenues of how we use language in life and in literature. Jacob is particularly concerned about the meaning attached to irony, a subject he expounds on at length.
Sharpe, who led Keegan’s hysterical Hand to God earlier this season, defines this character with a wide-eyed enthusiasm that stays fairly surface. Von Stein’s Martin, a focal point in this weird love pentagon, and, potentially, the most aggrieved party, goes a little deeper. Perhaps too deep in a long, later scene of Martin offering his contemplations on love.
The performance doesn’t resonate with the same brazen energy pulsing elsewhere through the production, but Martin makes some worthy points, as does the play, refreshing in its dive into the swirl of romantic confusion Owen (innocently?) sets in motion.
Apropos of Nothing (★★★☆☆) runs through August 10 at The Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St. NW. Tickets are $44 to $54, with discounts available for students, seniors 62+, and patrons under 25. Visit www.keegantheatre.com.
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