Susan’s Eastern spiritual leanings are a constant source of frustration for James (in what may be the best one-liner you’ll hear in New York this summer, James comments that "[he’s] never put 'exorcism' in the memo box of a check before"). In the play’s most emotionally taxing scene, that frustration becomes a matter of life and death. Yet Susan is as much a source of comfort to James as she is a source of rage. In James' family, a long-lasting marriage is an exception rather than the rule. Consider his dying sister who's marrying a violent Australian, a father who can’t hold down a marriage, or his more clueless sister, who owns a salon un-ironically named “Façade.”
While a one-man show usually makes its director invisible, here Hal Brooks establishes himself as this generation’s premier director of the format. Between Thom Pain, No Child, and now Life in A Marital Institution, he’s built a signature style of quick shifts, segmenting a play by lighting changes, and brief, abrupt audience engagement. The guidance he has provided Braly’s performance has proven to be invaluable.
After a few years of an identity crisis after Spalding Gray’s death, the monologue has made a triumphant return with a bevy of new, creative plays. Life in A Marital Institution opens as Mike Daisey’s How Theater Failed America, a similarly, frank, honest one-man show, just finished a heralded run a few blocks away. In today’s culture of theatrical excess, there’s a premium on unassuming, direct plays that cost a lot less but resonate a lot more. Life in A Marital Institution succeeds precisely because of its small goals. Who would have thought selling an apartment on Central Park West would be worth it after all?
Through August 31 at the Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam St. Written and performed By James Braly. Directed by Hal Brooks. Tickets can be purchased here. The show runs 1 hour, 5 minutes.
Article comments
1 - Pam
I’ve seen LIFE IN A MARITAL INSTITUTION and enjoyed it so much I wrote into their site. This is what I wrote:
I hereby proclaim James Braly to be the funniest man in America. Not since Spalding Gray, has there been a monologue this compelling, witty and intelligent. With precisely calibrated story-telling, he slowly draws us into his world of outrageous circumstances: we begin as spectators, laughing at him, then with him, and by the end, we’re stunned to recognize ourselves at the center. Moving deftly between genres, he brings the audience on a hilarious journey to the far reaches of satire, and back again to a realism that touches the heart. If you’ve ever had a family, a relationship, a marriage (or two), and/or you’ve lost all of the above, this is a show for you. All to say, Braly’s Life is for everyone, that rare piece of theater that is as entertaining as it is illuminating.