let’s talk about anything else
A "Big Chill" sort of story in which six friends escape to the Berkshire for a week to get over the effects of the death of their friend Abby.
The cast of the TOSOS production of Anthony Anello’s “let’s talk about anything else” at The Flea Theater (Photo credit: Mikiodo)
Whether Anthony Anello’s let’s talk about anything else is a dark comedy, or a thriller with horror overtones, or drama about the effects of guilt, it is the sort of play that doesn’t need its first act which is used simply to introduce its characters with the play really beginning in its second act. However, it isn’t very good at introducing its characters as it takes a long time to find out the names of the seven friends on stage. It does have a smashing and shocking ending suggesting the lengthy play has a good story that needs to be reworked and shortened.
A group of friends have rented a secluded AirBnB in the Berkshires for a week-long getaway eleven months after their friend Abby’s untimely death. However, for the sake of Charley still in shock after finding her body, they have made a pact not to speak of Abby or her death. Unfortunately, Abby is all they really want to talk about and the subject keeps cropping up. Rosalie has broken the rules of the women’s only weekend and brought her boyfriend Pine when Enda’s car has broken down. Wes, a sinister neighbor, shows up and seems to know too much about them.
Gabriella O’Fallon, Sadithi De Zilva, Ry Albinus and Caroline Portante in a scene from the TOSOS production of Anthony Anello’s “let’s talk about anything else” at The Flea Theater (Photo credit: Mikiodo)
However, all the characters seem to be guilty about a betrayal of some sort, and everyone has a secret, most of all Charley who seems to be hiding something as to Abby’s death which she won’t talk about. Enda is guilty that she slept with Abby’s father after he separated from his wife. Meg is sleeping with one of her friend’s fathers and has managed to keep it a secret till now. Pine is guilty that he took up with a co-worker in the past six months while Rosalie has been seeing a therapist and taken drugs which have killed off her libido. Rosalie is guilty for having dropped Beck for Pine, while Beck has not gotten over the break up and hates the new boyfriend. Considering the number of affairs referred to, the play is surprisingly not erotic.
Nevertheless, with all of these complications the characters are not very interesting as this is about all we learn about them. The play is structured by a series of two-character conversations punctuated by monologues by the characters spoken directly at the audience as to an unseen companion. The play is both too schematic and too long for the lack of dramatic events. It is not until the last scene on Day Six that the temperature heats up and the tension increases with the disappearance of one of the characters.
Posie Lewis and Dylan Lesch in a scene from the TOSOS production of Anthony Anello’s “let’s talk about anything else” at The Flea Theater (Photo credit: Mikiodo)
Another problem with the play in its present state is that we never really see or understand Abby. The most we learn about her is that she was “delightful” but we are given no proof of this or examples. The fact that all of her friends are still so devastated after almost a year later suggests she had a great influence but this is never explored. She remains a shadow presence hovering over the story and the characters and never comes into focus. Who she was or what she was interested in goes unexplained. There are stories in which missing characters remain off stage (The Glass Menagerie, All My Sons, Laura, Proof, etc.) where the absent one is made extremely vivid but this is not one of them.
Under Dennis Corsi’s realistic direction, while the characters go unnamed for a great deal of the first act, the actors are quite different so that they make very distinct people. The cast made up of Posie Lewis (Rosalie), Sadithi De Zilva (Charley), Ry Albinus (Enda), Caroline Portante (Meg), Gabriella O’Fallon (Beck), Dylan Lesch (Pine) and Evan Clausen (Wes) is partly undermined by the fact we learn so little about each of them and that they continually go over the same ground. As the mysterious Meg, Portante is the most interesting, making all of her remarks sound like she means more than she actually says. While the mission of the producing company TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence) is dedicated to producing LGBTQIA+ plays, only Beck is lesbian and her affair with Rosalie is long over though we are never told why. There is a hint, however, that one of the group has had a relationship with Abby but this is only a rumor.
Gabriella O’Fallon and Posie Lewis in a scene from the TOSOS production of Anthony Anello’s “let’s talk about anything else” at The Flea Theater (Photo credit: Mikiodo)
Evan Frank’s setting with its four playing areas (living room, kitchen, bed room and the woods) is utilitarian but as it never changes for the two hour and 40 minute running time, it eventually becomes rather monotonous. However, it is to his credit that nothing has to be moved around during the play’s many scenes. So too the casual costumes by Ben Philipp are suitable but unmemorable. Due to the play’s many short scenes, lighting designer Dominick Z. Riches is required to have too many cues.
Anthony Anello’s let’s talk about something else can’t make up its mind what kind of play it wants to be. It isn’t until the last scene that devolves into a scary horror story demonstrating what the play could have been. While the premise is a variation on The Big Chill, there are too few events to warrant the excessive running time, although the actors do their best to keep interest advancing.
let’s talk about anything else (through September 28, 2025)
TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence)
The Flea Theater, 20 Thomas Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, visit http://www.theflea.org/events
Running time: two hours and 40 minutes including one intermission
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