Placebo: Theater review by David Cote
Early on, we learn that the title of Melissa James Gibson’s new play means “I shall please.” Is that a promise she keeps? Since her quirkily named 2001 slacker comedy, [sic], I have been an ardent fan of Gibson’s genius for densely intellected badinage, in which characters seem to edit and annotate their dialogue midbabble. In the years since, the work has grown less esoteric and more domestic, but the palpable delight in slippery language remains. This is to say that there are many passages in Placebo (gracefully staged by Daniel Aukin) that tickled and teased, if the relationship drama left me unsatisfied.
Maybe that’s the point. Since the story is about doctoral candidate Louise (Carrie Coon), working on a drug trial to stimulate female sexual desire, perhaps absence of climax and resolution is structurally honest. Urges, or lack thereof, abound: Louise’s boyfriend, the dissertation-blocked Jonathan (lovably acerbic and tetchy William Jackson Harper) is in agonies trying to quit smoking. Their union seems to be under the microscope as much as the women in Louise’s study. The thematic material is quite juicy—self-delusion, fakery as a substitute for feeling—but the dramatic stakes remain dry, including a drawn-out final reckoning between the lovers. I’m not asking for medicine, but more than a sugar pill.—David Cote
Playwrights Horizons (see Off Broadway). By Melissa James Gibson. Directed by Daniel Aukin. With Carrie Coon, William Jackson Harper. Running time: 1hr 35mins. No intermission.
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