Jan. 25--For which generation of gays and lesbians was the coming of same-sex marriage the most complicated?
What's complicated about the joy of freedom and equality, you might well ask. Still, among all the celebrations of Supreme Court-sanctioned, nationwide same-sex betrothal in 2015, the feeling was expressed by some that gays and lesbians were moving too quickly to embrace a hetero-normative institution with a long history of exclusion.
It is the premise of "Le Switch," the emotionally charged new play by the richly talented Chicago writer Philip Dawkins by About Face at Theater Wit, that ambivalence about marriage is especially acute for the generation of gay men in their 30s.
The generation older than that, the play argues, has been quicker to embrace the change because it allowed many of them to marry the person they loved -- and, in many cases, with whom they had been sharing their lives for years. In other words, they were already set.
The younger generation, Dawkins asserts, is too young to have suffered the very personal pain and history of anti-gay discrimination and thus have embraced gay marriage as their birthright as free Americans, always believing that they had the right to register at Crate Barrel just as much as their straight neighbors. But the generation in between -- old enough to remember the time when marriage seemed an impossibility, but young enough that their personal lives are not yet settled and life-partnerships not yet forged -- are in a trickier position. The possibility of marriage means opportunity, but also pressure.
Dawkins focuses his drama on one such 30-something character named David, played by Stephen Cone, a commitment-phobe who finds himself blocked when it comes to long-term relationships, let alone marriage. David has a loving twin sister, Sarah (Elizabeth Ledo) who encourages him to get over himself, as does his friend Zachary (La Shawn Banks), who is getting married himself. David is a librarian by trade, and a fellow archivist named Frank (Mitchell Fain) is present, in David's life and in the play, as the voice of the older generation.
"Do me a favor. Be patient with your elders, won't ya?," Frank asks his friend David in an especially well-written scene, explaining that he himself did not need marriage to love his partner. "If we don't jump for joy at your gay liberation, it's not because we don't love it, it's because we don't recognize it."
Dawkins' point, I think, is that neither does David.
The action of "Le Switch" heats up when David goes to Montreal for Zachary's double-bachelor party and ends up meeting a very charming florist (aren't they all?) named Benoit (Collin Quinn Rice). Benoit is adept at "le switch," a Quebecois term for bilingual flexibility, but Dawkins is also using the term to express that with which David must come to terms. Benoit has no such problem. He's, like, 25. La Liberte.
Dawkins' reputation for plays about gay life has gained him a significant following -- the house was packed Sunday afternoon for the world premiere, under the direction of Stephen Brackett, and this was a show that had the audience in its hand. "Le Switch" is a very commercial play and topical to boot -- it puts one in mind of Terrence McNally's work, which has often had a similar role, and, of course, Dawkins' own drama, "The Homosexuals." I suspect this play will get many subsequent productions. It deserves them. It grasps the moment.
Emotionally blocked protagonists are tricky beasts, and more still needs to be done here (by the writer, director and actor) to maintain David's likability even as he spends the whole play not doing what everyone else wants him to do. There is a level of missing vulnerability, which leads to less empathy than ideal. Dawkins makes use of many metaphors -- David is a collector and a cataloger, not a doer and certainly not a risk-taker. Those are all very well. But what needs further work is the realization David is like us all, or, at least, parts of us all. We're all afraid of taking a leap.
That leads me to the weakness of Brackett's production -- a lack of urgency and thus a deficiency of import. That could be fixed, too -- Brackett has cast the play very well, Joe Schermoly has designed a very crafty set and the production has some fine supporting work from Ledo, Banks and, most especially, Fain, who moved me greatly, as did Cone at some moments. But the action has to move -- just as life swirls around us, forcing us to grab opportunities lest we miss them for good. Stakes have to rise.
Having said that, "Le Switch" is still yet another significant play from one of the Chicago's theater's brightest talents, a compassionate and observant writer who has written a play of the moment that reminds us how little legislation from courts or politicians changes how we think of ourselves.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@tribpub.com
Review: 'Le Switch'
3 STARS
When: Through Feb. 21
Where: Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.
Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Tickets: $35 at 773-404-7336 or theaterwit.org
