Pillowtalk

Audacious moments keep this new play about a recently married interracial gay couple afloat.

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Joel Benjamin in Dance, Off-Broadway, Plays

JP Moraga and Basit Shittu in a scene from “Pillowtalk” (Photo credit: Walter Wlodarczyk)

Joel Benjamin, Critic

Kyoung H. Park’s Pillowtalk mixes the mysteries of passionate, but flawed, love with the realities of racism in today’s society, specifically, Brooklyn, New York, where Sam (Basit Shittu), a hunky African American and former Olympic swimmer is married to Buck (JP Moraga), a sleek Asian American journalist. Both are in a constant battle with the White-dominated society which constantly undermines the lives of people of color. Park’s direction of his play is straightforward and “in your face” giving this rarely seen corner of society some needed exposure.

Add to these constant societal frustrations a great deal of intramural bitching about sexual positions, plans for their domestic future and the mutual keeping of secrets, and Pillowtalk becomes a pessimistic scenario far from the 1959 Doris Day/Rock Hudson giggly sex comedy of the same name. Set in 2017, two young men bicker and make love, their emotions eventually leading them to dance a strangely surreal, hesitant, but beautiful duet that reveals what their words couldn’t.

Pillowtalk opens with a surreal bit of amateur level ballet steps performed by Buck who is nervously awaiting having to reveal a setback at his job that will certainly make his husband unhappy. Voiceovers reveal the difficulties each character has been put through in their lives, making it clear that this marriage has always been laden with unavoidable preconceptions that have caused mortal blows to the relationship.

Basit Shittu and JP Moraga in a scene from “Pillowtalk” (Photo credit: Walter Wlodarczyk)

Pillowtalk does have its audacious moments including the final pas de deux—choreographed by Katy Pyle to wonderfully moody music by Helen Yee—which is a natural extension of Buck’s pipe dream of becoming a classical ballet dancer. The two young men grapple with each other, perform high lifts and wrestle themselves into complex shapes, dressed in Andrew Jordan’s revealing costumes consisting of strips of colorful cloth.

Marie Yokoyama’s set and lighting designs work hand-in-hand: the former consisting of two simple rectangular frames that light up at particular moments and divide the small stage into three distinct units. Small boxy pieces serve as a stove, a fridge and other pieces of furniture while a messy bed is approximated by a vertical frame across which is stretched ruffled bedding and pillows. Yokoyama’s lighting manages to turn the small playing area into both a dream space and a real space.

Produced by Kyoung’s Pacific Beat, a “peacemaking theater company,” as part of The Exponential Festival, Pillowtalk has a refreshingly contemporary feel, but depends too much on speechifying and editorializing to hammer its themes home, rather than speaking from the heart. Sometimes the two passionate actors’ emotions are hidden under too much verbiage. Perhaps more performances will turn the dialogue into something more natural sounding and heart piercing?

Pillowtalk (through January 27, 2018)

The 2018 Exponential Festival

Kyoung’s Pacific Beat

The Tank, 312 West 36^th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.thetanknyc.org or http://www.kyoungspacificbeat.org

Running time: 75 minutes with no intermission

About Joel Benjamin (553 Articles)

JOEL BENJAMIN was a child performer on Broadway and danced with leading modern dance and ballet companies. Joel has been attending theater, ballet and opera performances ever since childhood, becoming quite opinionated over the years. He was the founder and artistic director of the American Chamber Ballet and subsequently was massage therapist to the stars before becoming a reviewer and memoirist. He is a member of the Outer Critics Circle.