On the opening night — and the world premiere — of The Fiancé at Riverside Theatre in Iowa City, among the first things I noted was how the playwright, Emily Bohannon, describes her body of work:
“Emily writes original stories about women, class, music, Georgia and the messy, gloriously paradoxical business of being human.”
By that measure, The Fiancé is not only a perfect example of the kind of work Bohannon prides herself on creating, but also an example of the exact kind of theater that proves the medium can tackle the very high bar of exploring, and perhaps lending hope to that paradoxical business of being human.
From the jump of Act 1 until the end of Act 2, the audience spent most of the show belly laughing. Bohannon’s humor is sharp, cutting, unpredictable and lends itself to creating an environment where the audience is too sucked in to worry about anything else other than her characters.
At the heart of the show are three generations of women: Bea (Jody Hovland), her daughter, Joan (Jessica Link), and Joan’s daughter, Alex (Christina Sullivan) and their woes with love. Bea is a somewhat recent widow and new resident in a retirement community, Joan is still reeling from a divorce and Alex is attempting to pick up the pieces after a broken engagement.
Certainly, the male characters the audience meets over the course of the show are the catalysts for the events of the play. However, in a way that reminded me of TV shows like Jane the Virgin and Gilmore Girls, the heart of the play is found in the relationship that these three women have with each other. That premise — how will these women respond to the state of each of their love lives and how will those choices effect their familial relationships — could easily feel kitschy, but instead Bohannon’s artful hand crafted a show that helps the audience face these hardly rare situations (even if they are often underrepresented in art) with wide open eyes.
Jody Hovland as Bea gave among my favorite live performances I have ever seen. She is, thanks to her impeccable timing, unbelievably funny and managed beautiful moments of earnestness with ease. Her immense experience grounded a show that likely suffered, just a little bit, from opening night jitters.
Jessica Link shines at the top of Act 2 through the end of the play as the curtain is peeled back on Joan. In a way that’s palpable from the house, she lands moments of anger, grief, sadness and shame while never losing sight that the play is written as an earnest comedy.
By the end of the show the audience is left to consider a slate of truths — some more comfortable than others — about life, love and family. Still, Bohannon is able to leave each audience member with a truth that isn’t complicated at all: Just because things are sad, does not mean they stop being funny.
