An Intimate and Sexy DANGER AND OPPORTUNITY Downtown — Review

Polyamory has been a hot topic in so much of the modern discourse on dating that it’s hard not to feel wary when a play promises to tackle the subject. Danger and Opportunity, Ken Urban’s new play, involves a married gay couple who introduces a third partner into their relationship—a woman!—but its exploration of love and desire in our modern era transcends the surface-level discourse and probes at the deeper questions of intimacy and identity, even when it falters. 

It’s an intimate play, making the East Village Basement the perfect venue. The audience sits in the living room of Christian and Edwin’s posh, if not bland, Manhattan apartment. As Edwin puts it: “Christian, you love to pretend you’re some socialist sex radical, but you like expensive things and you’re, um, vanilla.” Frank J. Oliva’s scenic design perfectly captures this sensibility.

Edwin is ribbing his husband in front of their guest Margaret, Christian’s ex-girlfriend from high school who he hasn’t seen in 20 years, and as the evening progresses Christian might just prove him wrong about his pedestrian desires. 

Over three-and-a-half years, Christian and Edwin try to make Margaret fit into their marriage, often with surprising success. As Edwin, Juan Castano is touching as a man who finds that his life is forever changed by Margaret’s unexpected arrival in his relationship. For starters, he’s never been with a woman before, but, beyond that, he begins to explore his past in ways he never thought possible. 

Ryan Spahn nails the neurotic anxiety of a certain kind of gay man preoccupied with getting older—it doesn’t help that Edwin is younger than him. However, his bid for polyamory isn’t a case of trying to keep up with the young folks, it comes from a deep well of love for both Margaret and Edwin. Urban doesn’t try to pin down or spell out his characters’ sexualities, which gives the play space to explore what it means to be in love.

Julia Chan is the standout of the trio. Her Margaret is guarded and insouciant. She’s a professional who has learned not to let her emotions get the best of her, but as she grows closer to both Christian and Edwin, she opens up before us to reveal someone beautifully human. Chan is a remarkably present actor. Being so close, the audience is able to catch her every passing emotion, each cock of the eyebrow. You never feel like you’re listening in on these private conversations more than when you’re watching Chan.

At the helm of this production is Obie Award-winner and Theatrely31 alum Jack Serio, who deftly keeps the action moving without unnecessary blackouts or scene changes. Even when a character isn’t in a scene, Serio has them sitting nearby or floating on the periphery, like ghosts haunting the space. Working in tandem with Stacey Derosier’s warm lighting design and Avi Amon’s seamless sound design, Serio has created a world that lets the audience in. He uses every corner of that space, lending the production a verisimilitude that heightens the intimacy. 

However, even with Serio’s dexterous direction and a 90 minute running time, the play sags. Too many of the scenes are written at the same languorous pace. Given its title, the play lacks any kind of danger and, though well-acted, the trio fails to generate much of a spark. 

Queer couples are often derided for their permissiveness in their, to borrow a word from the script, “monogam-ish” relationships. Urban dispenses with judgment and gives us the chance to see the beauty that comes with letting someone else in, along with the heartbreak.

Danger and Opportunity is at the East Village Basement through April 20.