"Ache" delightfully makes a lifetime of 90 minutes
By Scott Magelssen, for the QUAD-CITY TIMES -- April 16, 2004

Keep reminding yourself that it’s a comedy, and it will help get you through the darkest moments in New Ground Theatre’s latest superb offering, “An Infinite Ache,” by David Schulner, which runs through next weekend.

In 90 minutes, the play’s two characters, Hope (Emily Burr) and Charles (Tim Venable), run the gamut of stages in a life-long relationship — from the delightfully executed awkward first date, through dealing with the loss of a child, through saying bitterly hateful things to each other — and back again.

Along the way, we get philosophical discussions of the nature of love, history and mortality.

With such a premise, one might imagine that “An Infinite Ache” would resemble the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s “The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged),” in which a similar feat of time compression is pulled off in 90 minutes, more than the works of Pablo Neruda, from which the play draws its title.

Not at all.

It’s a moving and poetic portrayal of a realistic relationship that is handled with competence by director Lora Adams and the two cast members.

Adams’ direction allows Burr and Venable to be intimate and surprisingly frank with their emotions and their bodies. Race and ethnicity factor into the story enough that it was a bit of a risk to color-blind cast for this production (the script calls for Hope to be Chinese-Filipino-American). Burr, a non-Asian, however, plays Hope responsibly and with sensitivity.

Both Burr and Venable negotiate Schulner’s complicated time shifts and stop-and-start dialogue with professional ease.

Susan Holgersson’s imaginative scene design softens the central dark-wood bedroom set with more ethereal wispy white fabric that swags from the ceiling and set pieces. This landscape presents fantastic opportunities for Michael McPeters’ atmospheric lighting.

Despite the play’s rapid-fire time shifts, Hope and Charles are believable people, subject to human foibles and compromises, and capable of being spoiled, petty and hurtful. And we empathize with them each of the many steps of the way.

The compressed-time structure is a large part of the play’s attraction. Although manic, once we are familiar with the rules of the time and space of this world we have no problem keeping up, and the pace occasionally slows down for some exquisite bittersweet moments.

The compression of time even allows for some meta-theatrical jokes (the characters have trouble articulating when an event in their past happened — was it weeks ago, or only a minute?).

IF YOU GO
What: “An Infinite Ache” by New Ground Theatre
When: 7:30 p.m. today and April 22-24; 2 p.m. Sunday and April 25
Where: Becherer Hall, Rivermont Collegiate, 1821 Sunset Drive, Bettendorf
How much: $12 adults, $10 students and senior citizens
Information: (563) 326-7529

Scott Magelssen is an assistant professor in the theater department of Augustana College. Contact the features desk at (563) 383-2400 or newsroom@qctimes.com.

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