There\u2019s a vicious bout of steam that goes down in the apartment of Manuel, a svelte yet tortured soul who brings a woman many years his junior into his habitat.<\/p>\n
For Irene\u2019s part, she\u2019s not exactly on the most stable of trajectories herself. She is liquored up on the rioja she and her girlfriends consumed at their Barcelona bachelorette party \u2014 it\u2019s the wine that American tourists get while the natives of Catalan have a much more refined palate.<\/p>\n
In Bess Wohl\u2019s \u201cBarcelona,\u201d playing at San Jose Stage through Oct. 18, Manuel and Irene, two strangers in the night, find plenty of tension that begins as playful and steamy smooching but quickly turns towards questions of loyalty and ultimately, vicious trauma.<\/p>\n
While the story unfolds in some ingenious and sharp ways, there is really not enough here to maintain a compelling narrative through the play\u2019s 90 uninterrupted minutes. Under artistic director Randall King\u2019s direction, stakes rise occasionally, but not enough for a thorough examination as to what has brought these two tortured souls together for a night of passionate flinging. What should be humorous self-interrogation too often moves towards awkward conversations born of a shared experience where neither seems all that into the other.<\/p>\n
Wohl\u2019s play begins with a faulty premise: that handsome Manuel (Johnny Moreno) is enough for Irene (Adria Swan) to throw caution to the wind, leaving her bridesmaid sisters behind.<\/p>\n
Irene is an incessant babbler, with a strong commitment to being both pedantic and drunk. Readying herself to cheat on fianc\u00e9 Todd is also the perfect time to dive into the virtues of American exceptionalism, Spain\u2019s history of political scandals (Spaniards must LOVE hearing from Americans about their shortcomings). Two folks desperate for a fling have a funny way of diving past the small talk. Soon enough, the steam has left the tea, replaced by political banter that upends the intentions of the entire evening.<\/p>\n
There are plenty of complications, some better than others at serving as cogs to allow the narrative to continue moving forward with interest. Yet other times the story veers in a direction that feels both heavy-handed and unlikely. Clearly Irene is much more interested in why she is getting married in the first place, since she\u2019s obviously not terribly interested in locking down a life with Todd. The whole being in Manuel\u2019s place making out certainly affirms where she is at with the situations in her life \u2014 impending dread placed upon her future nuptials.<\/p>\n
But what about Manuel? Not only is he driven by a critical peril that is coming in just one day, but pleasures of the flesh are his dopamine. The softness of this lovely young lady in his apartment is an attempt to fully forget those he truly wants there, which means each participant is pressuring the other into uncomfortable decisions.<\/p>\n
The difficulty about this scenario is that neither Manuel or Irene puts much capital in this relationship, which means the production is asking the audience to emotionally invest in a story that is unlikely at best, and absurdly fictitious at worst. There are some strong moments between Swan and Moreno, but not nearly enough to lock into the story consistently.<\/p>\n
There may not be any tougher play to write than the two-hander. In \u201cBarcelona,\u201d Wohl\u2019s magic that comes to play in other of her works is much more muted here. Both characters spend so much time teasingly and tempestuously talking, but spend less time fully engaging. The play\u2019s elegiac nature doesn\u2019t always lend itself to organic interactions, but its truth comes from the natural instinct to mask pain with something more destructive.<\/p>\n
For Irene, enjoying a European beverage while missing a shoe and needing the bathroom triggers many other challenging issues. Manuel has his own difficulties in seeking connection. They might have had more success if they would have simply stayed in the bar and enjoyed that beverage together, fighting about politics over rioja like normal human beings.<\/p>\n
David John Ch\u00e1vez is a former chair of the American Theatre Critics\/Journalists Association, a 2020 O\u2019Neill National Critics Institute fellow, and a two-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (2022-\u201923). @davidjchavez.bsky.social.<\/p>\n
\u2018BARCELONA\u2019<\/p>\n
By Bess Wohl, presented by San Jose Stage Company<\/p>\n
Through: Oct. 18<\/p>\n
Where: San Jose Stage, 490 S. First St.<\/p>\n
Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission<\/p>\n
Tickets: $49-$100; thestage.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a vicious bout of steam that goes down in the apartment of Manuel, a svelte yet tortured…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[184,7,967,181,88,90,89,198,200,1058,420],"class_list":["post-487594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-entertainment","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-south-bay","tag-theater","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}