RECOMMENDED
The abbreviated length of New Zealand playwright Gary Henderson’s “Skin Tight,” being given a Chicago premiere by Cor Theatre, resonates long after the “quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle” is done. Those five nonsense words, both muscular and ambivalent, come from poet Denis Glover’s similarly brief rural work, “The Magpies,” on which “Skin Tight” is based. In Glover’s six four-line stanzas, those are the only words that the poet’s subjects, Tom and Elizabeth, speak. But they certainly speak volumes. They echo a relationship’s highs and lows, and understand their universal commonalities. The emotions, no matter the context, are deep and extreme.
Akin to Glover’s physically tiny work, “Skin Tight” runs a mere fifty minutes, but the subject matter is contrastingly massive. The drama, directed by Victoria Deiorio, depicts the lifetime events of a relationship, which, while a formidable task, is not a theatrical first. Comedic one-acts have long taken up similar challenges, but too often with an abundance of cheap laughs and stereotypical representations. Henderson’s play, alive with an obscure poeticism, endeavors a more honest exploration of the joys and pitfalls of coupledom.
