Uncommon Themes Make For Problematic Procedure

"Yes, you. Down in front. Put your hand in a fist," Dr. Anil Patel (Amir Arison) said encouragingly to a rather reluctant audience during A Very Common Procedure. While Dr. Patel was trying to establish an appreciation for the size of the human heart, the proceeding became vaguely reminiscent of Cathy Rigby asking her audience to clap their hands if "you believe in fairies!" Similarly, A Very Common Procedure, currently in previews at the Lucille Lortel, asks viewers to trust in gravity of premature death without ever actually showing them.

Courtney Baron's play simply fails to get to the emotional heart of matters with a script that is all body and no soul. The story begins with Carolyn Goldenhersch (Lynn Collins) who is fantasizing about having an affair with the doctor responsible for killing her baby during a common neonatal surgical procedure. As the play unfolds the audience watches this fantasy become a reality, and sees how the death of a child can impact all parties involved in profound ways. While the dialogue is realistic enough, the way in which the story is structured is disjointed and jarring. Misplaced monologues, and scenes that constantly jump back and forth in time and in and out of vantage points, prevent one from ever really "knowing" any of the characters.

Perhaps the play's deepest fissure lies in the Lynn Collins' ridiculous portrayal of Carolyn Goldenhersch. There is no varying degree of emotion-Collins is on overdrive the entire performance. Every syllable is accentuated and every line is exaggerated. While the emotional stress after losing a child is undoubtedly severe, director, Michael Greif (Rent, Grey Gardens) could have tried to remind Collins of the beauty in subtlety.

But if Collins is guilty of overacting, Amir Arison is charged with the opposite. Far from charismatic, Arison's portrayal of his character renders Dr. Patel as an uptight and introverted individual, certainly not a man one would expect to find in Carolyn's sexual fantasies. In his rather tepid performance where he introduces Carolyn to Indian culture while disclosing that he doesn't know the first thing about India or its customs, and in his seemingly innate ability to show an emotional distance from his patients, he reduces his character's likeability.

It's possible that Collins'and Arison's polar opposite portrayals of these two characters are supposed to show the weakness in their relationship and the lie in their affair. Carolyn seems much better suited for her husband, Michael Goldenhersch who tolerates her outbursts, but brings a sort of clarity to them. Stephen Kunken as Michael does the best job with his role. He seems most comfortable in his character, and garners the most genuine sympathy as when he is seen fighting for his wife's love, or when he talks of adopting a dog after the baby's death.

Set design by Robin Vest has both an inviting and distancing effect. With mahogany wood paneling, modern lighting fixtures attached to the wall and movable sofa cushions, at times it can feel very homey. But the back wall, with its big window separated by white paneling, creates a chill as it moves forward and backward corresponding to scene changes. In particular, it seems to move forward when Carolyn is with Michael and backward with she is with Dr. Patel. While it's an interesting effect that enhances the narrative, it also can be confusing and cumbersome to keep score.

A Very Common Procedure does succeed, however in stimulating conversation about the often taboo-ridden and silence-laden topic of death of a child. And in presenting windows into the minds of the three characters it does so using a multifaceted approach. Also, the website for MCC Theater, which produced the show, provides important information on the controversial issues presented in the play including extramarital affairs and medical facts on the workings of the human heart muscle in infants. It contains links to support groups and websites that contain more detailed information. It's a commendable effort that offers an interactive, hands-on approach to theater-goers.

While the idea for A Very Common Procedure is clever in theory and in title-a double meaning for both an affair and a common pediatric procedure-the problem lies in its execution of such. Perhaps the relevancy of the story is a bit lost on a college-aged crowd, but with a hypertensive narrative and an often misguided cast, A Very Common Procedure attempts to move in too many directions at once. What ensues is seventy five minutes of theater that only makes time to explore the gross anatomy of some phenomenally complex subject matter.