Love triangles are always complicated. But the one in “A Strange and Separate People” is more convoluted than most.
In this new play by Jon Marans (“The Temperamentals,” “Old Wicked Songs”), the marriage of an Orthodox Jewish couple unravels when the husband becomes romantically involved with another man — also Orthodox, but of the “ba’al tshuvah,” or newly religious, kind.
Provocative as it is, “A Strange and Separate People” is so contrived that it’s ultimately unconvincing.
Not only do Jay (Jonathan Hammond) and Phyllis (Tricia Paoluccio) have an autistic 7-year-old son, but the son suffers from an intestinal illness and covers the walls of their apartment — and Jay’s overcoat — with crayon scribblings.
Jay’s lover, Stuart (Noah Weisberg), who happens to be a gastroenterologist, is introduced in an early scene in which his true identity isn’t revealed, in whodunit style. And Jay, a closeted man, is a psychologist specializing in reparation therapy for religious men suffering from “same-sex attraction disorder.”
The melodramatic plot is infused with religious and sexual themes. “I’m planning on being the first of a new breed of gay Orthodox men, discreet but open,” Stuart announces, explaining that the Torah excuses certain sexual acts. Later, he ritualistically dons tefillin, or small boxes containing scrolls of parchment, to the eerie strains of Philip Glass.
Director Jeff Calhoun’s credits include many musicals (“Big River,” “Grease”), but almost no drama, which may account for this one’s lack of subtlety.
Nothing quite rings true, and the actors strain far too hard to provide credibility for what’s ultimately unorthodox behavior.