Oct. 07--If you have ever been awoken by a fight in a neighboring apartment -- or found yourself watching shadows in windows across the street -- you might have sympathy for the genesis of "The Cheats," the new play at the Steep Theatre Company, penned by the New York-based Hamish Linklater. The writer has said he was spying on his neighbors when the idea for the play entered his head. The resulting drama, now in its world premiere on Berwyn Avenue under the direction of Joanie Schultz, is partly about the pleasures and limitations of voyeurism, partly about marital infidelity, but mostly about living in close proximity to the most intimate moments experienced by other couples.
There are two central issues with "The Cheats" at this juncture. One is that it takes far too long for anything to actually happen. I'm all for a slow burn, and there's no question that, once its springs are fully wound, "The Cheats" has some very recognizable scenes of awkwardness and, eventually, a little fire. But you have to stay with these characters a long time to get there, which rather fights with the theme of the work. In the great relationship-cheating arena of real life, burns rarely are slow. People tend to explode -- which is, for example, what you can see in Ayad Akhtar's "Disgraced" at the Goodman Theatre.
Granted, Linklater -- who comes with a formidable theatrical heritage as he is the son of master teacher Kristin Linklater of Columbia University, an actor as well as a playwright, and one half of a couple with actress Lily Rabe -- wanted to write a more elliptical kind of play. So stipulated, and he has real talent as a writer. But what he has not yet fully achieved is a cast of characters who are sufficiently empathetic that you are drawn into their Los Angeles web and willing to wait out the revelations of people's pasts and who did what to whom when. This quartet is very cool to the touch.
For most of the action, we're really watching a trio. Anne (Kendra Thulin), an actress, is married to John (Peter Moore), who likes to watch Jonathan (Brad Akin) doing whatever it is that Jonathan likes doing in his own apartment. This little realm of guessing and wondering is blown to pieces when Jonathan (who also is in show business) enters the apartment of his neighbors. Eventually, his wife, Susie (Julia Siple), shows up, but by then we are in the realm of denouement.
I won't give any more of what happens away (things do not entirely turn out as you'd think). But I never quite believed in the reality of what I was watching, uniformly capable acting notwithstanding. "The Cheats" clearly needs careful attention to space -- passionate proximity being one of its themes -- but I couldn't fathom exactly where we were in Schultz's production, with a set designed by Chelsea Warren. At some moments, it feels as if everyone is crammed into a tiny space (although this theater has held much larger casts in the past). At others, all felt distant. These are Hollywood people, but you don't feel the vibe of Los Angeles.
If you're interested in new work and support this theater, you might find some stuff here of interest. Linklater has writing talent. The play isn't dull, and a few of Akin's later scenes have a startling and impressive undercurrent of anger and pain. And both Thulin and Moore play married very well. But in this first production, anyway, "The Cheats" does not fully live up to its sexy title. Time is wasted. Wicks remain yet unlit. Cheaters, and cheatees, stay strangely circumspect.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@tribpub.com
REVIEW: "The Cheats" at Steep Theatre
2.5 stars
When: Through Nov. 7
Where: Steep Theatre, 1115 W. Berwyn Ave.
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Tickets: $10-$35 at 866-411-4111 or www.steeptheatre.com
