Orange Flower Water
Friday October 27, 2006–Thursday November 2, 2006
Orange Flower Water Craig Wright's messy little four-way of a relationship drama flirts
with real feeling now and again, and it threatens once or twice to say something honest
about romantic expectations and the realities of long-term togetherness, but it keeps
getting distracted—by a showy moment for a barbecuing brute, or an extended, isn't-that-
provocative bout of breakup sex between a waffling husband and a steely, angry wife, or
some such thing. César Guadamuz and Dana Edwards do sharply etched work as
cheated-upon spouses Brad and Cathy, but the script, understandably, keeps pushing
them to the sidelines. And at the story's center, the balance is undeniably off: Frank
Britton's perfunctory David, all surfaces and hurried diction, proves an insuffient emotional
counterweight for the raw, deeply melancholic Beth of Helen Pafumi, who moves her
character carefully, moment to anguished moment. But Patrick Crowley steers his quartet
efficiently enough through the play's contrivances, and toward the end their efforts pay off:
There's a terrible passion in Beth's awakening to the ruination of the choice David has
coaxed her into making, and David's own final speech, about discovering a little grace
amid the rubble of bad decisions, carries enough of the playwright's conviction to make it
feel almost like a hopeful thing. (TG) District of Columbia Arts Center, 2438 18th St. NW.
Thursdays—Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; matinees Sundays at 3 p.m. $10—$20. To Nov. 12.
(202) 249-0782.
