Lascivious Something

Written by Sheila Callaghan and directed by Sarah Rose, Lascivious Something features a tale of an American who lives on a Greek island with his attractive Greek wife.   He operates vineyards, hoping to create an exceptional new vintage.   The day is the last of the grape-picking.   Whether he really knows much about wine is one of several intriguing unanswered questions.   He is played by Sean Bygrave in a rich, utterly grounded performance.

An old girl friend - American again - of his arrives unexpectedly.   The core of the drama is the evolution of this triangle, over two days.   The two women form a prickly friendship, with the visitor buying an expensive dress for the poor girl.   The old girl friend clearly wants her man back.   Is the direction violence (she bites) or his choice between the two women? (Lori Watt plays the intruder and Mersiha Musovic, Bosnian-born, is convincingly Greek).

The new arrival introduces another theme.   They were both activists at Berkeley in the sixties.   The election of Reagan as President (the date is 1980) spurs her to want to organize agitation against Reagan, while our landowner has traded politics for wine-making.

I have reservations.   I did not see how a fourth character, an enigmatic young girl addressed as Boy, who is always drinking and who speaks only Greek and thus is a reminder of the location.   She adds a note of ambiguous sexuality.   She may be an allusion to Euripides (but which play? - I don't know all 19!) as the program states that characters are "straight out of Euripides."   A few times a scene is repeated, leading to a different outcome, a tricksiness of a kind the piece does not need (save this for your next play, Ms Callaghan)   The man's two eloquent monologues, though displaying an ear for lyricism, appear misplaced.   The conclusion is unsatisfactory as though Callaghan did not know how best to end her drama.

There is much to enjoy in this work by New York-based playwright - it is well worth seeing.