TWO are
better
than ONE

By Ricardo Baca
The Metropolitan

In two tales of honesty ÷ both accidental and brutal ÷ HorseChart Theatre Company has a couple breadwinners in their one-acts, Salt-Water Moon and Tough!        

The two plays are performed separately but can be seen together on Saturday nights. It is heavily recommended that they are seen in succession. Although they deal with different times and generations ÷ Moon is set in 1926 and Tough! is modern day ÷ the two deal with  similar themes.        

One company member said it best while describing the romantic nature of the two plays: ćSalt Water Moon is definitely a romance, and, well, Tough! is kind of a romance.ä And thatās still stretching it a bit.        

Set in Newfoundland 70 years ago, Moon deals with forlorn love as Jacob (Brett Aune) returns to his ex, Mary (Shannon Woolley), months after he abandoned her and left town without notice. She fights his anxious ideas of getting back together, for she is now betrothed to a man who lacks Jacobās spontaneity but is stable and accountable.

With Maryās sister in an abusive orphanage, Mary is looking for a sense of stability that Jacob canāt provide. If she finds that stability, she can recoup her sister.

His up-front honesty is refreshing. Her smiles at those times when Jacob is facing away from her are genuine and coy.        

Moonās script is demanding and written in  rural Canadian dialect. The performers dealt with the language lightly. This worked, as it didnāt bog the words down with incomprehensible accented dialogue.        

Tough! could easily be interpreted as the lighter piece of the two, but it isnāt. Its honesty is brutal and forthright, echoing that of contemporary life.

Itās a take-off of the relationships of Generation X, the preceding generations, and probably many more to come.               

As a creative writing professor once taught me, starting a play in the middle of a foul argument is a great way to get the audienceās attention. And sheās right. ćItās all lies ÷ everything you ever told me,ä shouts Tina (Woolley) at her lackluster boyfriend, Bobby (Aune), opening up the play.        

The two, aged somewhere in their 20s, have been together for a while and Bobby has recently been caught with his hands up another womanās shirt.

This is especially bad news to Tina as she has to tell him that sheās pregnant with his child. And that comes as extraordinarily bad news to Bobby as he has to tell her that he originally came to the park to break up with her.        

Itās a typical look ÷ milking the stereotypes for all theyāre worth ÷ at the male/female ideas of having children and staying together forever. He suggests an abortion. She says itās out of the question. He sheepishly falls apart and gets beaten by Jill (Catherine DiBella), Tinaās tomboyish friend who has come for emotional ÷ and physical ÷ support.        

By the end of this play you have Bobby, whoās obsessed with tits, ćeven if they were on a fence,ä Tina says. And you have Tina, who says she doesnāt ever want to fall in love again because it is all too ćdangerous.ä        

Itās universality makes it enjoyable, but at the same time brings forth destructive images and feelings that, sadly enough, we have experienced.        

DiBellaās bullish performance was beyond Schwarzenegger. Aune happily explored the extremes of the psyche as his two characters were very dissimilar. And the same was true with Woolley, although both of her characters were enduring serious man/boy problems.