EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE... // A THEATRE REVIEW OF "HALF MOON BAY"

BY MATEO MORENO

When does curiosity become obsession? When does an innocent crush become a dangerous longing? And at what point does a friend step in to try and save his drowning friend? In HALF MOON BAY, Nylon Fusion Theatre Company paints a vividly drawn world of the journey from longing to obsession in beautiful detail. Richie (Ben Gougeon) is an architect in New York City, recently engaged to the beautiful Pam (Jean Goto). Pam is smart and caring, and from the perspective of their best friend Tom (Brennan Taylor), they're perfect together. So perfect it's sickening. The three of them have dinner at a local bar, where a waitress named Alicia (Ivette Dumeng) serves them. It's her first shift and she's pretty terrible. Sweet, but terrible. Tom has to stop himself from being too sarcastically mean to her, though Pam and Richie are understanding. Richie however, is also drawn to her and isn't quite sure why. Soon, he finds himself heading back to the bar to see her, without his fiancée or best friend in tow. He wants to spend time talking with her, getting to know her. First he waits at the bar, then he waits outside until she gets off work, offering to call her a car home with no strings. But there's always strings, and these strings become more and more obsessive as each day passes until everyone starts to take notice of his behavior becoming more and more erratic. Yes, this is most definitely not going to end well for everyone involved.

Playwright John Jiler has written a really intriguing script but even more so, he and Director Margarett Perry embraces pure theatricality to tell it. Tom narrates the show, sometimes literally talking directly to the audience. Slight shifts of lighting tell us of time passage or new scenarios. Two moments on stage happen at once inside the same playing area. It's a gorgeous, creative gamble that truly pays off. In the wrong hands, Tom could come off as an insufferable ass. But in the truly crafty hands of actor Brennan Taylor, he's douchy but lovable. Loyal but a bit of a cad. And he truly does care for his best friend and his fiancée, also seeing her as the "one who got away."

Ben Gougeon plays Richie with a pulsating danger. You see him as a lovable, everyday man who slowly starts slipping off the deep end without knowing why. And then not being able to necessarily come back. It's a strong, strange performance that really works. Jean Goto's Pam comes off as loving but a bit overbearing, however I'm not sure if that's the character as written or a choice Goto made. It's not necessarily a bad choice, but it gives a "thin" reasoning of why he may stray. I think it might have been all the more interesting without a reason at all. However, her confronting moments, though written powerfully tragic and acted well, felt a bit rushed. Ivette Dumeng as the strange and childlike Alicia is a powerful presence here. Her choices often don't make sense at first but she draws you in to believe them, and she makes you want to be on her side. She also moves from extreme emotions expertly and make you long for someone to understand her, not try and mold her to what they need. Overall it's a fascinating play that took me by surprise. HALF MOON BAY is a well-drawn warning into the dangers of even the smallest obsession, and how your imaginary life may not be all that it's cracked up to be.

MATEO'S GRADE: A-

Written by: John Jiler Directed by: Margarett Perry Starring: Brennan Taylor, Ben Gougeon, Jean Goto, and Ivette Dumeng

MATEO MORENO recently won a bet on who could hold their breath the longest underwater. He won the bet, having beat local loudmouth Jimmy "Thunderbird" Thomas with a record breaking "fourteen minutes." True, part of that time was him unconscious and the other part was him being revived, but he still counts it, and is now $20 richer. Take THAT Thunderbird! He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.