With Cradle And All Manhattan Theatre Club continues with an excellent season. This play tells the stories of two couples in adjacent Brooklyn apartments. One couple is dealing with an infant who won't sleep. The other is at a turning point in their relationship, and their future may or may not involve babies.
The catch going in, is that both of the couples are played by the same pair of actors: Maria Dizzia and Greg Keller. How well the actors and director pull this off can make or break such a show. I imagined that the script would go back and forth between the couples, with a minor costume change and accent switch. This was not the case. The entire first act told the story of Claire and Luke who are deciding about their relationship. Then the second act was Annie and Nate with their sleepless baby.
Of course, actors are always acting on stage, but to see them play entirely different characters (and play them well) with only a fifteen minute intermission is impressive. Dizzia and Keller were outstanding. I thought they were good after the first act, but I was really convinced of their talent after the dramatic character changes for act two. Their entire affect, speech pattern and posture were different. There was nothing lazy about the transition. Nothing lazy about them at all, in fact - just the two of them in heavy dialogue for over two hours. Cheers to director Sam Buntrock. Credit must also be given to the costumes, hair, makeup and set designers all of whom helped make the two acts seem entirely different.
Daniel Goldfarb's script was fast moving and funny, especially the second act when you need it to be faster and funnier. The elderly man using a listening device and sitting next to me said loudly to his wife, "This play is really funny." And it is. Excellent writing, acting, directing. Another winner from Manhattan Theatre Club.
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