Missed connections

Published Feb. 23, 2010 at 10:00 p.m.
Private Fears in Public Places at Zeitgeist, Neighborhood 3 at Apollinaire
...Private Fears in Public Places — Alan Ayckbourn's London-set tragicomedy from 2004 — is all about how difficult it is to know another person...

PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES: Becca A. Lewis's Charlotte gets in touch with her inner dominatrix.

Private Fears in Public Places — Alan Ayckbourn's London-set tragicomedy from 2004 — is all about how difficult it is to know another person. Stewart, an aging real-estate agent, borrows a tape of a religious program from his conservative secretary, Charlotte, but once the show ends, the static transforms into home-brewed porn starring his co-worker. Ex-soldier Dan and his fiancée, Nicola, enlist Stewart's help in finding an apartment together, only to realize they can't stand each other. After a series of secret and unsuccessful blind dates, Stewart's live-in sister, Imogen, runs into Dan. Closeted homosexual bartender Ambrose oversees all of the above, ready with advice and a cup of cheer for the lingering lonelyhearts but unable to clean up the messes in his own life.

In the New England premiere production now up from Zeitgeist Stage (at the BCA's Plaza Black Box Theatre through March 6), David J. Miller's direction and scenic design emphasize the play's connectivity, as scenes unfold right on top of one another. A large central table unites disparate locations, standing in for Charlotte's desk at work and a multitude of kitchen tables. The thrust stage means that the audience sees the actors' backs as often as their faces, and that underlines what we don't know about one another. All six actors sink into their characters' personal shame and loneliness, but Becca A. Lewis's Charlotte sparkles the brightest with her bipolar balance between religious zeal and well-masked porn-star proclivities. You'll root for her deliciously deviant dominatrix side until you see its unhappy consequences.

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