Winsome, full of flair, but not terribly edgy, Marcus Gorman’s comedy Natural reminds me of Singles, the 1992 ensemble movie that partly inspired my future move to Seattle. In that Cameron Crowe flick, you may recall, a half-dozen Gen-Xers were searching for love and stumbling toward adulthood. Here, essentially, a half-dozen millennials do the same thing.
Professionally closeted Art (Shane Regan) and his live-in milksop boyfriend Theo (Sam Turner) share a snug though sexless life until brazen bartender Samantha (Allie Pratt) comes along, causing confusion about sexual orientation between the pair. Another disruptive force is Chloe (Pilar O’Connell), Theo’s disgruntled customer-service co-worker, an erotica blogger who arouses attention every time she enters the stage.
Dating and career woes drive the plot, though it oddly lags behind the times. First, while the rules of dating get updated as quickly as your OS, we hear no mention of social media or sexting. When Jeremy (Jaryl Draper), the poor man’s Barney Stinson, wants an escort, he uses the phone. Seriously? There’s an app for that. Natural sometimes feels like it was written by someone who hasn’t dated since MySpace. Second, three of Gorman’s characters work for a chain bookstore with a coffee shop; and as a former cafe manager of a major retailer, I know that such a workplace should offer a hotbed for comedic rants. Yet instead of exploring retail hell, Natural languishes in big-box limbo at best.
I don’t buy the notion that Art, in modern liberal Seattle, would have to hide his sexuality at work, another reason that Natural seems both topical and dated. But, like Singles, this comedy is eager to please. Gorman writes some adroit dialogue, as in a riveting scene when Chloe scorns the ex-stripper Samantha. Director Jen Moon keeps the action moving expeditiously in this properly minimal production. And Harry Jamieson’s subtle sound design suitably underscores each scene, bringing background sonorousness from stores to sports bars.
The marketing for Natural implies rather more Seattle specificity than it delivers. But at least there aren’t any Bertha jokes.
stage@seattleweekly.com
NATURAL Annex Theatre, 1100 E. Pike St., 728-0933, annextheatre.org. $5–$10. 8 p.m. Tues.–Wed. Ends Feb. 18.
