After reading the description of 60/40 as “an idea conceived during the pandemic lockdown and modeled on the German play La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler” and set in a dystopic not to distant future. I was looking forward to what director Lucia Bellini and writer Naya James Sonnad had come up with.
If you are unaware of what the La Ronde structure looks like, it is a piece composed of two person scenes where each character appears twice in concurrent scenes forming a circle or ring. For example scene one is person A and B, scene two is B and C, scene three C and D and so on and so on.
I was excited to see this on the stage as this type of structure can lead to some very interesting character driven plays, however that was not the case with 60/40 which was ultimately so plot heavy that all character development fell to the wayside.
On the plus side the cast is full of some wonderful actors and some performances really stood out. Egle Petraite, Sameera, has great stage presence and was a joy to watch and I enjoyed Brian Rojas in his portrayal of Charlie, Jen Beck as Noelle, gave a humorous and layered performance. Another stand out was Michael C. O’day as Dr Jeremy Morgan.
The sets by Isabel Nelson were well done but overly complicated and the transitions between scenes were far too long and interrupted the show’s momentum. In the end the idea behind 60/40 was a good one, but the execution fell flat.
I think if this was re-worked with more focus on character and less focus on plot
and structure it could be a successful show.
ARTIUM: OMNI 