Twins confront ‘Me, Myself & I’

Edward Albee's newest play stars Elizabeth Ashley as a confused mom

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

OFF BROADWAY REVIEW

The ever-devilish dean of American playwrights, Edward Albee, offers an absurdist romp with identity issues in his 30th and latest work, "Me, Myself & I," which opened Sunday at Playwrights Horizons.

Commissioned and first staged in 2008 by McCarter Theatre in Princeton, "Me, Myself & I" stars Elizabeth Ashley as the flustered mater of identical twins both named Otto. Actually, as viewers will be elaborately informed, one twin is called OTTO (Zachary Booth) and the other is otto (Preston Sadleir) and it seemed a good notion to her at the time.

Unfortunately, Mother can't tell her 20-something sons apart although she knows one loves her and the other doesn't. Their father has been absent since day one, supplanted by a live-in Doctor (Brian Murray) whom the twins detest but dizzy Mother leans upon heavily.

The characters frequently address the audience directly as they try to sort out their perplexities of self. The crisis occurs when the troublesome twin declares his brother does not exist. Amid the confusion, one twin pops up in bed with the other's girlfriend (Natalia Payne) who doesn't know the difference.

Don't expect a searing drama from the triple Pulitzer-winner. Albee's amusing two-act verbal gambol among who-are-you-really?-type semantics is playful stuff with few deep thoughts behind it. While these volleying word games can (and do) become tiresome, the language is often crisp and elegant. Probably Albee had more fun crafting the play than some viewers will experience in watching it, but it's a pleasure to see the master writing with such frisky spirits.

Emily Mann, who helmed the McCarter premiere, provides a classy production that keeps the banter bright and breezy against an airy minimal set done by Thomas Lynch mostly in pale shades of blue and eggshell. Near the conclusion, the author, director and designers deliver a nifty surprise that gives this coolly intellectual entertainment a fantastic flourish.

McCarter regulars doubtless recall Tyne Daly's cheerfully befuddled rendition of Mother. In this case, Ashley presents a more demanding, tempestuous characterization of the confused matron. All tangled Medusa locks, heaving bosoms and husky Southern inflections, Ashley grandly illustrates Mother's seething anxieties with extravagant arm gestures that semaphore the lady's overemotional nature.

A holdover from the Princeton production as the Doctor who delivered but otherwise cares little for the twins, Murray wittily manages to appear genial and sinister in the same breath. The remainder of the company does nicely by Albee's corkscrew conversations.

"Me, Myself & I" continues through Oct. 10 at Playwrights Horizons, 416 W. 42nd St., New York. Call (212) 279-4200 or visit www.playwrightshorizons.org.