Diving into ‘Things That Are Round’
Rep Stage’s premiere of Kimball’s 2-character dark comedy is full of energy
One of many plays by the former MacDowell Fellow — who is an affiliate writer at the Playwrights’ Center and playwright-in-residence at Theater at Monmouth — the two-person dark comedy explores the power of human connection as two very different women live an intense living room drama.
The show is directed here by Lola B. Pierson, with movement and fight direction by Jenny Male.
Their story takes place at the home of Tetherly, played by Beth Hylton, a lonely, slightly creepy dentist who hires a street-tough aspiring opera singer as a nanny for her deaf son.
The protagonists appear to have little in common other than motherhood; the less educated Nina, portrayed by Thais Menendez, has a coarse mouth, and Tetherly’s psyche never quite touches real ground.
Both women are attractive, intelligent survivors. Nina will do just about anything — including leaving her own child behind — to move to New York to pursue her dream. And Tetherly, who seems to have cash to burn, pursues a doctorate and dabbles in calculus and quantum physics without real purpose.
Joseph W. Ritsch, the producing artistic director, writes in the program that Kimball creates a world where Tetherly and Nina hold up mirrors for each other. In her director’s notes, Pierson says: “In this piece, we see the rapid-fire construction of dozens of worlds.”
With scenic design by Daniel Ettinger, lighting by Sarah Tundermann, sound by Sarah O’Halloran and costume design by Heather C. Jackson, the intimate Studio Theatre stage easily accommodates shifts in time and space through 12 continuous scenes linked by audio/video in a surreal journey.
In the “Overture,” lights rise the moment after Tetherly offers Nina an undisclosed salary that she rejects. Nina casually begins dropping f-bombs, and Tetherly, who appears to be the epitome of a helicopter mom, insists on hiring her. By the end of the scene, the nanny and dentist have entered a mutually exploitive relationship as the fiery Nina walks away with $500 cash.
Add in lots of symbols, themes and non sequiturs, and a metaphorical dance with only scene intro music and no singing — except Nina’s informal audition practice — takes flight. As the story unfurls, Kimball introduces countless “things that are round” such as beads, teeth and monads as well as other noteworthy devices.
For instance, in Scene 3, Tetherly tells Nina a fairy tale about a beautiful young patient named Tina who met her fairy godmother named Wetherby. Tetherly says Wetherby “granted Tina’s every wish, gave her a job, supported her dreams. She even showed Tina a secret passageway.”
Before you know it, the two women are having a happy hour. Tetherly practices her dissertation presentation while sadistically cleaning Nina’s teeth, and the emotionally violent game, in which even the death of a child is not what it seems, escalates.
Pierson’s rapid-fire pace and comic timing are lovely throughout — as are the stellar performances by both actresses.
Refined and mysterious as Tetherly, Hylton delivers a sense of vulnerability in her character that often convinces the audience that what isn’t real is. It’s a deep and sensitive performance.
As Nina, Menendez expertly massages every laugh and proves her character is, in fact, the strongest. By no means mother or nanny material, Nina breaks the maternal paradigm and should be unlikable, but rises as a heroine because Menendez interprets the complexities of the character so well.
In a YouTube video interview promoting “Things That Are Round,” Kimball says, “Ideally, the ending of a play feels like the beginning of a new story.”
And in its final and most intense scene, the cast and creative team at Rep Stage nail a new beginning.
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