A Very Common Procedure

Lucille Lortel Theatre

I feel this play is just not getting the love or respect it deserves. Or, maybe just not from Charles Isherwood from the New York Times. I love critics, I do. I have favorites. I respect them. I agree with them, I disagree with them. I am not reading another Charles Isherwood review before I go see a play for a long time. His review sat in my ear and I couldn't get it out, and at the end I thought it was unfair.

In short, A Very Common Procedure asks the audience to play the role of marriage counselor to a young couple that has recently lost a baby. The married couple is very likable and their love is almost tangible. The death of the baby has just devastated their marriage. In trying to come to terms with this death, the wife starts an affair with the doctor who did not save (and perhaps inadvertently killed) their baby.

The script was strong enough with one obvious central conflict and a couple of subplots or themes. Mainly, though, this was an acting vehicle. All three actors rose to the challenge. They had excellent pacing and great chemistry, very necessary for conveying intimacy, love and loss--all at the heart of this play. Unlike the disaster of acting romance in Prelude to a Kiss, I left the theater arguing with my friend about whether the stage couple was a real couple in real life. That's good acting. I was willing to allow that it was just good acting, nothing more. She still contends that they were a real couple. So be it, I'm happy to have had the argument.

This is the second play I have seen at the Lucille Lortel theater. It certainly will not be my last. Both dealt with changes in life, loss and how we move on from personal tragedy. In case you did not know, every single theater in this town has a special interest: British to America hits, old classics, comedies with well-known actors, etc. I am betting that this might be a Lortel favorite, the pitting of loss against the need to keep moving on in life. I could be a wrong, but I plan on seeing another play there in the near future to measure the theory.

I do recommend this. It is well done. It was thankfully not a personally relevant subject for me. But, it presented a nice outline of love in marriage. And, like Prelude to a Kiss, it tested the marriage against outside destructive forces to see where it stood at the end of the day. This is a great theater. Go. Enjoy. And, don't read an Isherwood review before you go, only after if you must.