Every so often, a show comes along that polarizes critics and audiences alike. Right now, “3C” is that show.
Some reviewers, including myself and the New Yorker’s John Lahr, loved this sharp, darkly hilarious play, set in 1978 among roommates like the ones in TV’s “Three’s Company.”
But even more loathed it.
When it opened two weeks ago at off-Broadway’s Rattlestick theater, David Adjmi’s 90-minute piece landed some of the meanest reviews of the season. “An absurdist theatrical style with overblown characters and a grotesque comic sensibility. Nightmarish it is. Funny it’s not,” wrote Variety. Theater chat rooms burst with vitriol, warning off potential ticket buyers.
Members of the cast and creative team seem surprised not so much by the negativity as by its intensity.
“I couldn’t have anticipated the virulence and violence of some of the responses,” says Adjmi, 38, author of the popular “Stunning” and “Elective Affinities.”
“There was such a startling lack of consensus,” he continues, unfazed. “Even in terms of defining it: Some people think it’s a very funny play, others that it’s unfunny. One critic said it was a new genre — the sitcom of pain.”
Anna Chlumsky and Hannah Cabell, who play the Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt roles, respectively, nod in agreement.
“When you read it, you can’t deny it,” says Chlumsky, the efficient chief-of-staff in HBO’s “Veep.”
“Pain is such a theme in this play.”
The show’s tone is hard to pin down, though: It’s a comedy that feels like a bummer, or it could be a tragedy where you laugh a lot.
Cabell says the audience’s reactions vary from night to night. “You can never expect a laugh at a certain place, or a silence,” she says.
“Also, it’ll be silent in one spot, and that exact same audience will be hysterical in a spot we didn’t expect,” Chlumsky adds.
No matter how discomforting the moment, it all plays out in bright polyester clothes and disco music. The period is precisely re-created — the scenes where the characters energetically dance around the apartment were taught by Deney Terrio, who coached John Travolta for “Saturday Night Fever” and used to host the TV show “Dance Fever.”
But there’s an unsettling edge throughout. Cabell’s Linda is obsessed with her weight. Chlumsky’s Connie, the archetypal “dumb blonde,” mentions rape, but in a ha-ha way.
“People get thrown because something they thought was familiar is completely strange,” says director Jackson Gay. “Some of them think it’s rude, almost. As in, ‘How can you take this light, fun thing and turn it that way?’ ”
“Which is funny,” Cabell cuts in, “because if you watch that show now, the sexism and the homophobia are appalling.”
Ironically, “3C,” which freely tosses out slurs like “dyke” and “faggot,” has been called homophobic. Adjmi, who’s openly gay, just bursts out laughing at the notion.
“Some people feel liberated by the play, and others don’t know what to make of it,” he says, happily. “It’s fascinating how people meet with it.”