Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – An exploration of love and sex forms the crux of Ehan Coen’s juvenile LET’S LOVE! and Ali Keller’s thought-provoking (UN)CONDITIONAL

• By drediman
• October 16, 2025
• No Comments

Currently on the boards of the city’s busy fall theater season, you’ll find a pair of new Off-Broadway plays whose crux is to delve into the quirkiness and irrational workings of love and sex. As per usual, read on for my thoughts.

(UN)CONDITIONAL
SoHo Playhouse
Through October 26

First up at SoHo Playhouse is Ali Keller’s thought-provoking new play (un)conditional (RECOMMENDED), an intimate look at marriage and the sexual tight rope that couples often have to walk when attempting to keep the fire burning for the long-term. In particular, the play follows the romantic and sexual travails of two couples, both of whom are entering a period in their respective marriages where the status quo just isn’t enough anymore. One couple must figure out how to recalibrate the relationship’s power dynamics, both in and out of the bedroom (I’ll save you the specific graphic details). The other couple must face shifting priorities in the marriage, insofar as one partner feels the need to have a baby and nurture a family, which was not an aim for them in the past (there’s a reason for this, which I won’t spoil for you in this review). There’s a lot to chew on here — especially as it relates to the relatable dilemma of when to compromise and when not to — and the playwright must be commended for presenting it all tactfully and in a theatrically coherent manner. Although each marital portrait could easily stand on their own, dramatically speaking, Keller has found considerable synergies that benefit her thematic exploration by gently intertwining the two narrative threads. Although some of the frequent scene changes are a tad clunky, director Ivey Lowe by and large has done an impressively resourceful job of staging the play on the venue’s tiny stage. The performances by the five-person cast are by and large very good, with each conveying their character’s emotional and sexual needs with convincing transparency. In particular, Nathan Darrow gives a deeply tortured performance in a tragic role that has long stayed with me. Another standout is Georgia Waehler’s buoyant portrayal of the first couple’s seven-year-old child, a skillful piece of acting that bravely navigates some uncomfortable situations in the play.

LET’S LOVE!
Atlantic Theater Company
Through November 22

One of the hot tickets this fall is Atlantic Theater Company’s production of Let’s Love! (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED) by Ethan Coen at the Linda Gross Theater (Coen is perhaps best known for penning, along with his brother Joel, such iconic films as Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Though?, and No Country for Old Men). In essence, the piece is comprised of three short plays (“The Broad at the Bar”, “Dark Eyes”, and “Girl”), each of which expound on the alchemic mysteries of sex and romance. Although each is mildly interesting — “The Broad at the Bar” and “Girl” are merely throwaway diversions, akin to lightly drawn comedy sketches — they ultimately serve as an excuse for the playwright to bask in some rather juvenile shenanigans, resulting in some awkward laughs over the course of the evening. The whole thing harkens back to the days of playwriting when the hot ideal were testosterone-driven works by the likes of David Mamet and Sam Shepard (i.e., stories told from the point of view of brash white straight men). Suffice to say, instead of having something truthful and illuminating to say about sex and love — but primarily sex — Coen’s collection rarely rises above mere crassness and distastefulness. Nevertheless, the production has been directed with a steady yet unobtrusive hand by longtime Atlantic Theater Company artistic director Neil Pepe. His fine, game cast leans in on the material, which admittedly, occasionally leads to some genuine laughs. Perhaps most memorable of the bunch is Aubrey Plaza, who is a force of nature (as she was in her New York stage debut two years ago in the revival of John Patrick Shanley’s Danny and the Deep Blue Sea) as a caustic sex addict in “Dark Eyes”, by far the most substantial of the three mini-plays. Nellie McKay’s winsomely caressing songs — which she sings live and are dispersed between the plays and also bookend the evening — are welcome interludes but seem at odds with the sophomoric redundancies of Coen’s script.