"The Roommate" at SF Playhouse

SF Playhouse photo

Friday night in San Francisco. We don't seem to hit theaters in The City on Friday that often; more likely to be in Berkeley on Friday for some reason. The bars and restaurants were definitely more crowded than we usually see them mid-week, but the crowd at SF Playhouse seemed rather sparse. Maybe people had switched their tickets so they could go do something else. I gather there was some big comedy thing going on at Civic Center.

But we were there to see The Roommate, a somewhat quirky play by Jen Silverman about a woman who rents out a room in her house to a stranger who is somewhat less than forthcoming about her past.

The Play

Sharon (played by SF Playhouse co-founder Susi Damilano) is a woman living alone in a fairly large house in Iowa. To help make ends meet, she has taken in a roommate, Robyn. The play starts as Robyn (Julia Brothers) is moving in with her boxes of stuff. Robyn is reluctant to answer many questions from Sharon, abruptly changing the subject and making clear that she's got something to hide. She also won't let Sharon touch her boxes.

Frankly, the writing, particularly early on, is a bit rough. There is not much subtlety in the early portrayals of either character, though the actors do their best to paper over the rough patches in the script. Sharon is just a bit too pointedly, naively inquisitive, and Robyn a bit too furtive and evasive. In light of what we later learn about each of them, it's actually hard to justify either of those traits. We have to either believe that both characters are acting against their nature at the beginning, or that at least one of them changes almost instantly, which just suggests some weak writing.

On the whole, the story is a good one, and the characters pretty likable, but the early scenes are a bit hard to accept, and greatly increase the degree to which one has to suspend disbelief later on. On the whole, the plot seems pretty implausible, but still fun.

The Production

As usual at SF Playhouse, the production quality is high. Nina Ball's set is attractive (though I must say quite similar to several others I've seen recently, both by her and others), setting the house as a frame or outline, with only a few walls and features inside. This permits the lighting (by Robert Hand) and the wide open spaces of Iowa to engulf the play. Indeed, the two women seem quite alone in the middle of a vast, empty space.

Damilano manages to make Sharon a quite interesting character, though as written there is not a lot of interest there. She lives a very dull life, alone in her house since her son moved to New York and her husband "retired" from their marriage. Other than her reading club and weekly shopping, she is rather a shut-in, definitely sheltered. As her exposure to the more worldly Robyn gives her new experiences and shows her new possibilities, Sharon displays some depth that was previously hidden, and Damilano does a good job of making that feel plausible.

Brothers is good as Robyn, though somewhat less believable. Particularly early on, she seems a bit too much on edge, given what we learn about her later. And her set of expressions seems a little limited. Again, given what a chameleon her character is supposed to be, the facial and physical choices seem too limited.

Bottom Line

I thought it was a fun play, exploring the notions of what kinds of hidden depths people can discover when they allow themselves to step outside the limitations they and their society impose. And in a larger sense, we can see some of the roots of the political and social disaffection in the American Midwest, as exemplified in recent elections and the ongoing "opioid crisis."

It's not a brilliant play, but it's enjoyable, and it's certainly well done.