Home Alone

Have you ever wondered what your parents were up to while you were away at sleepovers? If you haven’t even considered the thought, lest it involve disturbing images of blindfolds and whips, consider your parents among the fortunate ones. Because often, in those rare moments of calm between washing crayon off the wall and picking alphabet macaroni out of the shag carpet, Mommy and Daddy had too much vino and started scrutinizing their own failed relationship.
Michael Weller’s Fifty Words, opening this weekend at the Biltmore’s GableStage, follows one such marriage on the verge of falling apart. A couple, trapped inside a brownstone, must endure a night of parental freedom with no choice but to face their demons. The ensuing epic battle is an exercise in cringe-inducing realism. Director Joseph Adler describes the play as “more about the difficulties involved in keeping relationships alive than you can get in months of couples therapy.” The psychoanalysis starts this Saturday at 8 p.m., with performances through September 12.

Sat., Aug. 14, 8 p.m., 2010