For established screen performers, the theater has become something of a fashion accessory. It is thought to be terribly cool to take a break from the screen and “tread the boards,” as it were, though few have such genuine love and affection for it as Ethan Hawke obviously does. Hawke's theater credits are numerous and he also serves as artistic director for the Malaparte Theater Company, which he co-founded. Here he steps behind the scenes of the latest play from his long time friend, Jonathan Marc Sherm.
Far Franom Happy Families
Described by Sherman as his “dirty, sexy, suicide comedy,” Things We Want stars Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine), Zoe Kazan (Prime of Miss Jean Brodie), Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent) and Josh Hamilton (Hurlyburly). The play focuses on the lives of three brothers, each with their own unique set of problems. Charles (Dano) has just been dumped and has dropped out of school. Alone and miserable, he returns home to the family apartment occupied by his brothers Teddy (Hamilton), a narcissist obsessed with self-improvement, and Sty (Dinklage), a relapsed alcoholic. The apartment also just happens to be home to the window that both their father, and then years later their mother, decided to leap out of to their respective deaths. Problems are further compounded when Sty's sponsor, a sexy neighbor with dependency issues, enters their lives and threatens to turn the wedge that exists between the brothers into a chasm.
Billed somewhat broadly as a dark comedy, Things We Want is a knowing take on addiction, self-destruction and fallible human nature. Born out of Sherman's own time as an alcoholic and his own mother’s suicide, he paints a family dynamic of addictive personalities battling with themselves and each other in a cycle where the roles may change, but the underlying personalities that drive the addiction do not. These are not bad people, they simply are not able to realize what they are doing, beyond glimpses of themselves, long enough to genuinely evolve.
The Single Location Serves The Story Well
The unchanging single location of the apartment serves well to accentuate the repetitive role reversal of the characters over time. The show moves briskly from dialog driven farce, with terrific one-liners being hit around the stage like a squash ball (“I wish I could retroactively spoil all the food I ever prepared for her”), to a display of sharp melancholy. Crushed dreams, and frustration are given voice almost as a form of poetry. The young cast is clearly very into it, and Dinklage in particular is standout as Teddy, a verbose armchair philosopher, dedicated to living his life according to his guru's life plan of happiness through single prime numbers. At one point he perhaps sums up his situation best, simply stating; “I'm not happy, I've just got better regrets than most people.”
While somber Things We Want is extremely funny, it is an exploration of the less admirable qualities that are present within us all. Bitter, but punctuated with flashes of hope and sincerity. It is sad, but also warm and the genuinely earnest nature of the story along with the integrity of the script make for a story that is identifiable, enjoyable and a fine coming together of some very talented people.
