When I first arrived to the theater, I met family members and friends of the playwight. Apparently she attended UVA, like me, so I was digging the Wahoowa spirit in the house.
Desire Moments is directed and written by Leslie M. Scott-Jones with the Phoenix Theatre. It follows the lives of 8 friends as they navigate love, life and desire a la the TV show Friends.
The set is simple. There is a couch in the back of the stage, a card table with chairs at the front of the stage and two chairs by themselves on the left side front of the stage.
I particularly enjoyed the cool outfits. The British bloke wears a Union Jack t-shirt at one time. The father of three wears cool 90’s band Soul Coughing t-shirt.
The first scene is dramatic with the friends all gathered on a couch waiting for their friend to come out of a hospital room with news on her dying grandmother. The news sadly is not good, but you can tell that the group all loves and supports each other. Unfortunately it was a little hard to hear the first scene with the couch so far back and the air conditioning, but after that there were no more issues.
The second scene was the girlfriends drinking and talking at the card table. It is an interesting technique to have one character’s back to the audience at the table as I’ve never seen that before.
The show does a great job keeping the audience’s attention as there is plenty of drama going on with appropriate dabs of humor! From a crumbling marriage, elicit romance, pregnancy, and the strain of having kids.
The play authentically portrays people’s messy love lives and relationships. How does one stop from being addicted to physical needs or deal with children taking over a marriage or keeping love going over the years?
A highlight was actor Brian Garrison who passionately explained his conflictions of having kids that took away the intimacy he has with his wife. You could really feel his pain.
You will enjoy the humor among the tangled love lives these characters lead.
Running Time: 90 minutes, with no intermission.
Desire Moments plays through July 26, 2014 at Redrum Theater— 610 L Street, NW in Washington DC. For performance information and to tickets, go to their Capital Fringe page.
