Not only does Paul have a bigger apartment, he's got cable. Each character is a strong personality, challenging for an actor to explore but not so convoluted as to elude depiction. Broughton elicits good performances from her actors, especially Milarch, whose development as an actress over the past year has been a pleasure to witness and who provides the play's most honestly emotional moment as Libby describes a lonely encounter with a man at a bar. The production has its drawbacks. Silver has written a couple of scenes in which two characters talk while a third is on stage with nothing to do.
Nobody seems to know how to compensate for the playwright's shortcomings.
Monika Essen's two-element set, an interior and an exterior, is nicely proportioned and convincingly detailed, while Edith Leavis Bookstein's wide range of costumes includes lots of shiny outfits for Libby that have the capacity to reflect, not unlike the character herself. All content copyright 2000 Detroit Free Press Inc. and may not be republished without permission.