reviewvancouver:Arts Club Theatre, Sexy Laundry

Twenty five years into their marriage and their love life has gone stale. Alice (Lossen Chambers) decides a weekend in a funky boutique hotel will put the spark back into their lackluster marriage.

This is a laugh out loud production. A production where one leaves the theatre feeling so good to have been laughing out loud with bursts of spontaneity. First premiered twenty years ago on the Arts Club stage, the script written by playwright Michele Rimi resonates today with the ubiquitous topics of married life.

Alice and Henry (Caven Cunningham) take us through an approximately 100 minute no intermission script with delft precision. They are both very experienced actors. Their chemistry on stage is authentic. They work so well with each other, carrying the script through its many emotional twists and turns. They click which adds integrity to the production.

There is tension built into scenes, soft tender moments of reflection and laugh out loud lines that carry the audience through the memory lane of Alice and Henry’s marriage. The chemistry between the actors is a bonus to the play. Authenticity, humour, vulnerability and anger come across as truly felt by Alice and Henry. The personalities of Alice and Henry are slowly revealed by the actors throughout the course of the play giving the audience a sense that the characters are real.

Sexy Laundry touches on many aspects of a long term marriage including the value in being comfortable in the life that has been built in the marriage, allowing the individual needs of each partner to grow and the value in sticking to the commitment made to each other.