Rough Sketch
(© J. Cherrae Photography)
One salient take-home message from Shawn Nacol’s incisive comedy
Rough Sketch, which the rUDE mECHANICALS Theater Company is premiering at 59E59 Theaters, emerges quite quickly: Never trust a colleague who would rather work than take a vacation. Or, for that matter, one whose chosen desk décor is a poster of Buñuel’s Un Chien Andalou.
Barbara (Tina Benko) is annoyed to find co-worker Dex (Matthew Lawler), already hunkered down in the Doodle Ranch animation studio when — armed with a carton of protein bars and a jumbo jar of instant-coffee crystals — she braves a snowstorm to put in an extra week’s work between Christmas and New Year’s. Her goal is to place her personal stamp on a certain scene in a $300 million feature they’re about to wrap called Coffee Beanies.
While Barbara is motivated by full-bore ambition, Dex’s reasons for voluntary overtime are the antithesis. He’s there hiding out from his alcoholism, his failed marriage, and his stalled career as an award-winning children’s book author. Yet from the pair’s opening exchanges, there’s never any doubt that sparks — both sexual and philosophical — are bound to fly. What’s refreshing about Nacol’s script is how quickly he dispenses with the “Will they, won’t they?” They will, and do, almost immediately, leaving us two hours in which to savor their less overt agendas.
Initially, Dex is remarkably tolerant of Barbara’s odd affect and workaholic zeal. Being a social animal himself — and further befogged with grateful afterglow — he’s slow to pick up on the perniciousness of her intent. Animators have a long history of inserting subtle jokes in the background of their films, but what Barbara is hoping to do is plant a bomb that could undermine the saccharine optimism that fuels the entire G-rated genre. Dex reacts as if the future of humanity were at stake. Their warring world views lead to an impassioned battle for supremacy, complete with dirty tricks, industrial sabotage, and rapid-fire repartee.
Although at times the verbal pingpong is almost too swift to take in, director Ian Morgan tempers the pace adroitly overall, leaving plenty of breathing space for purely physical humor. Still, Nacol limns his dialectics with neo-Shavian wit. Just as important, Benko and Lawler — subtle, nimble performers both — make the most of each mano a mano moment.
