Paul is so devastated after Jennifer’s unexpected death that he’s wailing in pain. “She brought joy to my life,” he tells Don, his friend and colleague. “She was a f – – king Hall of Famer,” Paul continues. “Maybe one of the top-five cats ever.”
So begins Ethan Lipton’s droll, dryly unsentimental comedy “Red-Handed Otter,” about companionship, and the ways in which people relate to their pets, and each other.
Like all the show’s characters, Paul (Matthew Maher, last seen in Sam Gold’s “Uncle Vanya”) and Don (Bobby Moreno) work as security guards, decked out in identical blue blazers and gray slacks. Most of the action, swiftly directed by Mike Donahue, takes place in the drab control room where they endure boring shifts.
Now in mourning, the sardonic Paul reverts back to the angry guy he tells us he was before Jennifer.
It’s unclear what would get him out of that funk. In the meantime, he wallows in the depressing music of the Polish composer Gorecki — you get the feeling Paul is overeducated for his job, but he does nothing to leave.
Little by little, we learn about the other guards as they tell stories about the animals they had as kids. Doofy Don had an otter, while crotchety Randy (Gibson Frazier) had a hermit crab. Go-getter Angela (Rebecca Henderson) got in trouble when she mated her rabbit, with disastrous consequences — this scene hilariously concludes with everybody earnestly making bunny noises.
They’re all horrified to learn that Estelle (Quincy Tyler Bernstine, from “Ruined”) grew up without pets. “We had people!” she explains. “The house was full, and everybody in it was a person!”
No matter: As far as Paul’s concerned, Estelle can’t be trusted.
As time goes by, some, like Angela, move away from the control room and into actual relationships. Others have a harder time letting go. Don’s goofy niceness could be the end of him — he hasn’t learned to toughen up, and he gets hurt.
Paul, on the other hand, seems to find comfort in his dark humor and ability to confidently make snap judgments. You wouldn’t be surprised if he and another cat settled down crankily ever after.