REVIEW: At The Wedding Is A Touching Reflection On Love And Heartbreak
Through 6/15 @ Sand Lake Center For the Arts
Photos by David Quiñones Jr.
“Ultimately, our walk through the wedding turned out to be a touching reflection on how love changes us, as well as how we can change for love.”
Harbinger Theater and Sand Lake Center For the Arts’ co-production of At The Wedding, a play by Bryna Turner and directed by Chris Foster, tells the tale of a disheveled, bereft ex-girlfriend, Carlo (Maghen Ryan-Adair), crashing the wedding of “the one that got away” to win her back…or get revenge…or make peace with the past…or all of the above? Ultimately, our walk through the wedding turned out to be a touching reflection on how love changes us, as well as how we can change for love.
Ryan-Adair was both funny and poignant as Carlo, eliciting whoops of laughter from the audience through her quick, dry wit and drunken slurs throughout the first half of the show. Though only in one scene together, Ryan-Adair shared a palpable chemistry with Amy Hausknecht, the bride’s mother, Maria. Dancing and giggling together, it was a sad reminder of what had once been Carlo’s future, though Hausknecht’s deft slide into liquor-fueled anger and yells gave the audience pause. Was it really so bad that this wasn’t her future? Is it possible that, with time and loneliness, Carlo would be the one storming off on someone else’s day of joy and love? It was within small moments like this that the true story was told, the imbalance and fear trembling beneath Carlo’s sarcastic surface.
Bringing these sentiments so boldly to the forefront was the emotional, truthful Eli (Ben Amey), who served as a calm foil to Carlo’s tempest. Reappearing at pivotal moments throughout the evening, Amey played Eli as a gentle, well-meaning guide who clearly believes in true love, despite the many reasons there is to fear it. As the kids are saying these days, Amey perfectly portrayed a “golden retriever boyfriend” — dependable, loving, and always looking on the bright side. In case anyone didn’t get the message of the show, Eli shared the story of the albatross with Carlo nearing the final scene, encouraging her to not shoot down what could serve her well. Perhaps hitting us over the head with the idea a little bit, but to no fault of the company.
On her odyssey throughout the evening, Ryan-Adair was also well-supported by Carly (Jennifer Schnurr)—an enemy turned unlikely confidante—Leigh (Rachel Stewart)—an enchanting party-goer—Eva (Alexia Halsey)—the bride herself—and Victor (Adam Sauter), an almost wordless waiter who provided comedic relief through his sideways glances at the unruly guests and frustration with an apparently unreliable catering crew.
The ultimate moment of poignancy came through a short dance to Lord Huron’s “The Night We Met.” Mirroring a first dance, Eva and Carlo sway slowly in center stage after coming together and apart all night. Carlo places her head on Eva’s shoulder as she glows in white, seemingly relinquishing any claim she had to her love once and for all. It’s upsetting, sure, but it’s clear that it’s the closure she needs.
I appreciated that Carlo doesn’t really end the play happy or with complete closure. Heartbreak and loss leave hundreds of tiny loose ends inside of us, so to end it with her meeting a new love or feeling ready for “a new adventure” would have felt a bit too corny. Instead, we end in a state of contemplation: better off than we came to the wedding, but still a long journey ahead of us.
Tickets can be purchased on SLCA’s website HERE — $12 for students, $22 for adults
The show runs June 13-14 at 7:30 PM and June 15 at 2:30 PM
