This four-person comedy—mixed with a number of poignant, if sad, moments—kept the audience at this small theater engaged and laughing. The eight scenes (plus a prologue, interlogue, and epilogue) are independent stories, all based in the fictional town of Almost, Maine (it’s not really a town so much as a giant, sparsely populated region in the country’s eastern-most state). And, though strikingly different, each is a love story. With layers. And earmuffs. And hats and gloves and boots.
Eric Hafen, the artistic director, purchased the rights to the script after getting a postcard invitation to see the performance off-Broadway. He never made it to the show in New York, but was swept away by the script and now brings his own artistic eye (along with director Wendy Liscow) to the performance at the Bickford in the first run of the show post-New York. The actors—Janice Kildea, Daniel Robert Sullivan, Liz Zazzi, and Michael Irvin Pollard—each play four or five roles throughout the performance, and it’s hard not to instantly fall in love with each of them. The dialogue is natural and witty, and the simple scenery rightly keeps the focus on those words. There were some awkward moments (where, to be honest, I actually saw a lot of frightening resemblences to my own flaws), but everything was so… real.
I walked away from Almost, Maine with the same feeling I had after seeing the 2003 flick Love Actually. Love is complicated, and crazy sometimes, and in manifests itself in a whole lot of ways. But more than anything, it’s sweet. And so was the show.
(For ticket information, go to BickfordTheatre.org or call 973-971-3706. Almost, Maine runs through February 17.)