A fine ‘Romance’ at A.R.T.

May 14, 3:42 PMBoston Theater ExaminerDonn Saylor

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Will LeBow as The Judge in Romance. (Photo: Michael Lutch)

One doesn’t automatically associate David Mamet with slapstick. But in Romance, currently on stage at the American Repertory Theater, slapstick is what we get. In fact, what we get is a comedy smorgasbord of envelope-pushing jokes, pratfalls, and general all-around zaniness.

Romance revolves around the goings-on in a courtroom where a defendant is on trial for something that isn’t immediately clear. What is clear is that the circumstances of the trial aren’t as important as the gaggle of characters who people the courtroom, all of them stereotypes in some way: the Catholic defense attorney (Jim True-Frost), the gay prosecutor (Thomas Derrah), his black boyfriend, Bernard (Carl Foreman), the drug-addicted judge (Will LeBow), and the Jewish defendant (Remo Airaldi).

There’s really not much structure at all to the first act of the play, and there isn’t supposed to be. The arena is solely intended for the exhibition of some big-time political incorrectness. The humor is sure to offend pretty much everyone; indeed, that’s the beauty of Mamet’s dialogue here. Even I, someone who considers himself pretty hard to offend, gasped out loud at several of the jokes. Then I laughed myself silly.

In the second act, a select few of the pertinent details of the story come to the fore. We learn that the defendant, a chiropractor, is on trial for assault--but now has a zinger of a plan to bring peace to the Middle East. We learn a bit of the backstory between the prosecutor and Bernard. And everyone onstage, at one point or another, feels the need to make at least one soul-baring confession (much to our wicked amusement).

As usual, the A.R.T. company is in top form. Under Scott Zigler's sharp direction, Mamet’s words crackle back and forth between the actors with tangible spark. All of these characters are such lost causes that it’s tough to pick a favorite, but LeBow’s judge is an unforgettable creation, a pill-popping mess in a judicial robe (which he tosses aside when, in a drug-induced frenzy, he decides to strip in the courtroom).

J. Michael Griggs’s set has the imposing majesty of a court of law, peppered with some wonderful comedic touches. The stage transforms itself from a courtroom, to the defense attorney’s office, to the prosecutor’s living room, and back again to a courtroom, with ease and ingenuity. Miranda Hoffman’s costumes are right on the money; I must find where she tracked down that leopard print banana hammock. And the lovely lighting, by D.M. Wood, washes the stage in a stately glow.

By the end of Romance, the details of the case are only slightly more clear than they were at the beginning, but that’s really not the point of this delightfully off-color production. All you really need to know is this: you will laugh, you will be offended, and you will have a blast.

Romance runs through June 7 at the Loeb Drama Center.