A Guide for the Homesick

Tweet

Two Americans meet in a bar at a hotel near Amsterdam’s airport. Jeremy (Uly Schlesinger) who is white has missed his plane home to Boston from his medical clinic in Uganda and wants a drink while he waits. New Yorker Teddy (openly gay) (McKinley Belcher III) who is black has a room in the hotel where he has been on a bachelor party trip with his best friend and Citibank colleague Eddy (who is about to get married to Margot). He is alone for the evening and is looking for companionship. We meet them when they come back to Teddy’s room to drink beers and while away the evening. This is the opening of Ken Urban’s taut two-hander which cleverly morphs into a four character thriller right before our eyes enacted engagingly by Belcher III and Schlesinger who keep our attention riveted throughout their encounter.

Director Shira Milikowsky keeps increasing the tension as the 85-minute play peels away revelation after revelation. Each man has a guilty secret and may have betrayed a friend which is eating him up. Although there are never more than two men on Lawrence Moten III’s pitch perfect set for the rather shabby blue and white hotel room which suggests a dorm, we eventually witness and learn about two other stories that they are both stewing over: what happened between Teddy and Ed before Ed stormed out and Jeremy’s encounter in Uganda with Nicholas, a gay man in need of more than medical help.

First we see the developing relationship between Teddy and Jeremy, both lonely and seeking companionship. When Teddy makes a pass at Jeremy, Jeremy hotly insists he is straight but his later saying he has been in hotel rooms with men before belies his insistence. But both men have something to get off their chests. Jeremy keeps prying at what would have caused Ed to run out several days before and not be in touch since. However, Jeremy is guilty about what happened to his friend Nicholas who was scapegoated for being gay in Uganda when American evangelicals stirred up hatred for homosexuals.

Playwright Urban cleverly has each actor turn into the other character’s friend in flashbacks, with Belcher becoming Nicholas by the use of a Ugandan accent, and Schlesinger turning into Ed by acting very hyped up from the drugs Teddy knows he is taking. The segues are so subtle that at times we don’t realize we are in a flashback, at others it is quite obvious. It is a fascinating way to tell a story while going back in time as well as forward in the present. The endings to both stories are horrifying, while the play also makes statements about such hot button issues as racism and homophobia.

Belcher who previously played the roles of Teddy and Nicholas in the play’s world premiere at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston is the more convincing of the two, charming as Teddy and plaintively desperate as Nicholas. His tender handling of Jeremy is quite exceptional. He also exudes a sexiness which announces that he is on the make even before his propositioning of Jeremy. Schlesinger’s Jeremy portrays the character’s immaturity and difficulty handling his guilt as to the outcome of his Ugandan residency. He does not make Ed different enough that we immediately know that he has switched over to the other character but he is hyped up enough to demonstrate how unstable Ed has become. Nevertheless, both actors make this tense play exciting theater.

The production team had been quite effective in their several capacities. Aside from the realistic and believable setting by Moten, David Woolard’s casual costumes are entirely suitable for both men. The sound design by Daniel Kluger with its rain and airplane noises is quite effective, at times creating an eerie atmosphere. Abigail Hoke-Brady’s lighting is generally excellent as it shifts from scene to scene. However, at times it could be clearer in showing the shifts to the flashbacks and back, what Urban’s text refers to as bleeds. Though it is not credited, the actual rain scenes are startlingly potent from both realistic and poetic points of view.

 

Ken Urban’s ironically titled A Guide for the Homesick is a smart and intriguing piece of theater that not only works as a thriller but also as a commentary on how we live today. Directed by Shira Milikowsky, McKinley Belcher III and Uly Schlesinger are always absorbing as they negotiate three plots simultaneously. While the play may not be for the squeamish or the prudish, it is not only good theater but an enlightening look at intimate relations in our time.

A Guide for the Homesick (through January 12, 2025)

DR2 Theatre, 103 E. 15th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.AGuideForTheHomesick.com

Running time: 90 minutes without an intermission