MM Theater Blog

Theresa Rebeck's Bad Dates at Olney Theatre Center is a comical romp through one woman's closet as she prepares for one bad date after another. If you thought one-woman plays were boring, think again -- the 600 pairs of shoes and characters off stage more than make up for the absence of other actors.

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Melissa Flaim gives a tour de force performance as divorced single mom Haley Walker, transplanted from Texas to New York, who has recently re-entered the dating scene. Since the play is performed in Olney's intimate Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab, we actually feel like we have been invited into Haley's bedroom as she tries on one outfit after another while simultaneously telling us her life story in a very charming Texas drawl.

And then there are the shoes. Box after box after box, all over the floor, on shelves above the bed, even on the floor below the stage. And we watch with laughter as Haley tries on pair after pair, complaining that they hurt, and wondering what she was thinking when she bought them. The shoes alone are worth the price of admission.

As you can well imagine, Ms. Flaim keeps very busy onstage trying on clothes and shoes, rearranging boxes, taking clothes out of the closet, looking through jewelry, and all of those other preparations that are part of the female dating ritual. Credit Director Lee Mikeska Gardner in her Olney directing debut for devising some clever and fun stage business. And credit Ms. Flaim for being able to carry it off! She manages to work all the business seamlessly into her 100 minutes of non-stop monologue with perfect comedic timing and stage presence. She not only convinces us that she really is getting ready for yet another date, but she also convinces us that she is talking to her daughter in the next room, or the guy down the hall.

The energy and charm that Ms. Flaim brings to the role make it a joy to watch. She talks to us while lying on the floor, from the bed under the covers, from inside the bathroom, and behind the ladder that leads up to the shelves full of shoes. And all the time, we really do feel the intimacy of being right there with her in her bedroom. The night I was there, she even stopped to talk to someone who's cell phone had gone off, which only added to the humor and feeling of intimacy.

The play is not without action or drama, but in this case the plot develops off-stage, and we witness it through Haley's anticipatory remarks or post-dramatization of it. It is a clever story-telling device. Ms. Rebeck's words are a joy to listen to -- despite the fact that it is a monologue, the words flow with ease and hold our interest. This is the second successful Olney production of a play by Ms. Rebeck -- the first was Omnium Gatherum, co-written with Alexandra Gersten Vassilaros and produced in 2005.

Scenic Designer Milagros Ponce de León, Costume Designer Melanie Clark, and Lighting Designer Andrew Griffin have put together a bright and colorful set and props, which enhance the action as the ebullient Ms. Flaim puts the dialogue through its paces. The set is simple yet welcoming -- a bed, a closet, a door to a bathroom offstage and another leading to the hallway, and numerous shelves above the bed filled with shoeboxes. There is a ladder leading up to the shelves, as in a library full of bookshelves too high to reach.

Many have contributed to the success of this production, to be sure. But in the end it is Melissa Flaim who carries the night, in a very engaging and memorable performance.

MM Rating - * * * * 1/2