Three Changes

THREE'S A CROWD McDermott, Tierney and Cohen, from left, share too-cose quarters.

Photograph: Joan Marcus

Nicky Silver has hatched several adept dark comedies, including Pterodactyls and The Food Chain. But in the would-be thriller Three Changes, he merely lays an egg; the play is not even developed enough to be a full-fledged turkey. The setup is simple: Nate (McDermott) and his wife, Laurel (Tierney), allow Nate’s estranged brother, Hal (Cohen), to move into their comfortable Upper West Side apartment. Hal, we quickly learn, is a sadistic devil hell-bent on destroying his brother and appropriating his life. But after setting these gears in motion, Silver grinds them to a slow, creaking halt in the play’s second half, whose machinations are somehow shrill and blah at once.

I can’t recall when last I saw quite such a wipeout at Playwrights Horizons. A poorly structured pile-on of whiny, wandering dialogue, papier-mâché characters and phony plot twists, Three Changes is the kind of play that Joe Orton might have written after he was brained with a hammer. Wilson Milam’s inept staging makes things worse, eliciting soporific performances from the central romantic triangle and braying, obnoxious ones from the two younger actors: the studly Brian J. Smith as Hal’s boyfriend (a dope-fiend runaway), and Aya Cash as Nate’s mistress, a social-climbing shopgirl. (Tarantino-esque surfer rock—thriller Muzak—plays between scenes.) As for the play’s title, I must admit I have no idea what it means. Three changes to Silver’s play would be a good start, but dozens are required.