Making Love in Public
Reviews

"A comedic hit since it premiered in Austin in January 2002, find out for yourself what's so funny."

Making laughter in public

Welcome to Dry Creek Relationship Retreat at Reality Check Ranch. You will meet five couples who will explore the many facets of familiarity with equal parts love and laughter.

"whacking Cupid on his cherubic funnybone"

This is fun.  Making Love in Public is fun. Enough said, but we want more. No matter what expectations the plays title gives us, once we hear Peter Frampton’s “Show Me the Way” and the lights fade to black, all bets are off.  Enter Engela Edwards and john daniels, jr., and the chemistry is electric before the first line.  Less than three minutes into the play, the first surprise makes us sit back and “listen to the music” of offbeat romance and comedy with no rules.  It is clear that our patience will yield us laughter in abundance.

But there is more.  Always more.

All lower case playwright john daniels, jr.’s romantic comedy is musical, lyrical and physical; filled with puns, paradox, and poetry.  It is silly, shameless, serious, and sensuous.  Couples find their way to a weekend relationship retreat that is a mixture of shamanism and new-age positivity, mixed with pop-culture psycho-babble and 70s music ballyhoo.  In this gestalt of Pavlov meets Dyer, the games these people play are a primal scream of laughter that leaves us thinking, “I’m Ok.  You’re Ok” and they’re, well...happy, something we should have learned in kindergarten.

All this and chocolate, too.

This show is sexy.  Edwards and daniels provide everything the imagination needs.  Their characters are attracted to each other, and everyone in the audience can and will identify with them.  We have been there, and we want to go there again. 

Edwards’ talent is used to the utmost as she dances, mimes, and plays the straight man. Everything she does is punctuated by one of five completely different contagious smiles.  She shares with us her feelings, and we can’t help but experience her and smile back.

We think about it.

daniels is a good-natured Chautaqua speaker using a comic pulpit to preach to the choir.  His performance is a demonstration of Zen and the art of cognizant characterization.  He goes from loud and outrageous to soft and thoughtful, from totally relaxed to incredibly uptight without a break and yet with breath.  He is an accomplished actor who hits the stage running yet knows how to tarry.

And we are thankful.

Edwards and daniels are so at ease on the stage, that we are comfortable.  When they have fun, we have fun.  When they are excited, we are excited.  When they are joyful, we are joyful.  It is said that acting is doing something; and when they are happy, they are doing something.

Take someone you love to this play, because you will want to hold hands.  You’ll have fun.  You will want more.