SOMETIMES A CRUISE SHIP IS TRULY AN ESCAPE A reading of “Adrift,” by Richard Alleman, was streamed on Zoom on June 11, 2020.
THE FIRST TIME I was supposed to see Richard Alleman’s one-act play “Adrift” (early spring 2019), life was normal. I was going to go to a Sunday matinee with old friends, probably take the subway down to the East Village theater with my neighbor BP. Some of us would probably have had a drink afterward, maybe even dinner, in the East Village.
I had to take a rain check that afternoon, because I was committed to see another play, but the friends reported back afterward with positive reviews. I wonder what they’d think of it now — now that so many of us are living in the Twilight Zone.
Alleman, an author and the former travel editor of Vogue magazine, wrote “Adrift” long before Covid-19. It was even produced, at the 99-seat Kraine Theater in New York, before cruise ships became — for a while — the evening-news symbol of being trapped in an enclosed space with a deadly virus.
But somehow the play seems even more relevant now. Its characters are on the S.S. Univers because there’s no safe place to land.
THEY’VE BEEN HAPPIER Anthony Newfield and Alison Fraser as Todd and Betsy Wentworth, an old married couple who have bought a “home” on the S.S. Univers, a 300-passenger cruise ship transformed into a condo colony.
YOU SEE, “ADRIFT” IS about a couple who have decided to spend their golden years on a luxurious cruise ship — not because it’s a great deal financially (meals, drinks, entertainment, daily housekeeping, swimming pools, polka lessons and Zumba) compared with a nursing home. No, it’s because the world is falling apart, and staying on the high seas — forever — looks like one of the few effective ways to escape.
Todd Wentworth (Anthony Newfield, who also directed) and his wife, Betsy (Alison Fraser, a two-time Tony Award nominee), aren’t particularly thrilled with their decision at the moment. The city of Barcelona has just been destroyed (Todd shrugs off the news: “I always thought Gaudi was overrated.”) The shore excursion to Nice has been cancelled for security reasons. A boat filled with a hundred or so refugees has been spotted nearby, and It may be sinking.
WATERWORLD Karen Archer as the ship’s captain, who makes frequent public-address announcements. She informs passengers of on-board events, lets them know when a major city has been wiped off the face of the earth and urges them to make reservations for the seafood buffet.
OF COURSE, LIKE ANY condo community, the Univers has its power-hungry leaders, its flaws and its scandals. It’s not clear exactly who has been getting what kind of massage from Flavio (Glauco Araujo), the handsome young fitness pro, but everyone seems quite satisfied. But now he’s being put off the ship at the next possible landfall.
I GOTTA GET OUT OF THIS PLACE Flavio (Glauco Araujo), the ship’s wildly popular masseur, has a plan for starting a new life. But he’ll need money — and dollars are no good here.
BETSY IS QUITE FOND of Flavio, for obvious reasons. She’s sorry he’s being put off the ship — because, it seems, he was having intimate twosomes with the condo board presiden. And with his wife. But Betsy doesn’t know if she can help Flavio start the new life he’s talking about. Apparently a whole new civilization is forming somewhere in the interior of Libya, based on the United States Constitution. (Maybe since no one else was using it.)
American dollars are worthless in this brave new world.. Luckily, there are some golden ducats in the stateroom safe.
THE BAD GUY. Newfield in an uncharacteristic moment for his character.
IT TAKES A LOT to make Todd Wentworth really smile. Maybe a good day on the virtual golf course onboard. Maybe the condo board’s decision on what to do about the refugees. Todd is given to saying things like “They brought this on themselves,” “These people are not the same as us” and “an eye for an eye.” Sometimes it’s hard to believe that he and Betsy met when they were at Berkeley.
CELLPHONES STILL WORK DURING ARMAGEDDON While she has the cabin to herself, Betsy takes some time to chat with her son, Sean, and her daughter, Poodle.
BETSY IS NICER. WHEN she talks to her son, Sean, on the cellphone, she’s considerate enough to ask “How’s the radiation level?” He’s living in what used to be Nova Scotia. (And she’s surprised to hear that he’s heard about the new civilization in Libya too.) She also chats with her daughter, Poodle, who stayed behind in Santa Barbara. To her husband, she expresses worry about “what being the fittest is doing to us.” All she really wants are the old days, when Todd was nicer and they swam together in the grotto in Capri.
Betsy isn’t perfect, but she’s sympathetic, and it’s easy to see how Fraser’s Broadway career has included two Tony Award nominations (for “The Secret Garden” and “Romance/Romance”). Newfield and Archer seem to be thoroughly grounded in their characters.
Araujo is convincing, but during the stream he kept using his right hand to adjust something off camera — Maybe his monitor? Or his ring light? I know these events are billed as readings, but in the others I’ve seen so far, actors have been doing their best — and succeeding — in helping us forget that.
“LOOK WHAT I GOT!” Press Nights will not give away the O. Henry ending of “Adrift,” but we will say that it involves Todd ‘s doing something thoughtful. Betsy’s reaction is fairly clear.
THERE’S A HINT OF Margaret Atwood’s “A Handmaid’s Tale” in the dystopia the Univers is running away from — although not the obvious one. There are certainly touches of Bong Joon Ho’s post-apocalyptic film “Snowpiercer.” (photo) Alleman stirs up his influences and then flings an O. Henry ending at us. Right between the eyes. It would have been fun to have his characters reflect on the surprise development a little, but the abrupt finish has a power of its own.
The reading of “Adrift” was a benefit for the Episcopal Actors’ Guild. (Which is not just for Episcopalians.) Information: actors guild.org
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