Hot new play Matt and Ben has an irresistible premise: a script titled Good Will Hunting falls from the ceiling in Ben Affleck’s suburban Boston apartment, where he and his pal Matt Damon are attempting to adapt Catcher In The Rye into a movie.
Ben (Jane Spence) is a laid back, strutting jock (“the best friend who sleeps with your prom date”), and Matt (Hilary Doyle) is a studious, frenetic, uptight actor who believes in earning success. When the script arrives-first falling from above, then literally knocking on the apartment door-we see the friends at odds with one another. But wait, they’ve always kind of been in conflict with each other.
Matt and Ben is mostly a collection of skits stretching back to high school drama classes and talent shows about how these two friends have always undermined one another with their different styles. The direction makes good use of non-verbal gestures and maintains a sense of improvisation-however, the caricatures never completely spiral off into purely visual humor. Yes, every opportunity is taken to highlight Ben’s terrible acting as he reads through a scene of Good Will Hunting as the character of Will, but rarely does the focus turn the stupidity of Ben into the spectacle of the moment.
For all the immaturity of the back-story, there is a distinct sense of a more serious present tale, which allows genuine variety in the acting and an unexpected climax in the play. The playwrights (Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers) have turned a clever premise into a full, rich comedy that effectively lampoons the inanity of Hollywood without becoming stupid itself. It is a well-crafted work of fraternity, along the lines of great works such as Ira Lewis’ Chinese Coffee and Sam Shepard’s True West (coincidentally, in the play, Matt auditions for Sam Shepard’s play Buried Child).
In an engaging twist, both Matt and Ben are played by women-Hilary Doyle has the rare appealing humor of Ellen Degeneres, while Jane Spence as Ben has a macho strut that adds a subtle touch to the over-the-top confident masculinity on display.
The cartoon-like distortions and simplicity of the set (by Michael Gianfrancesco)-a sky blue and pastel orange apartment-adds the brightness necessary to help convey the animation of these lovingly rendered caricatures. Fitz Patton’s careful sound design brings a certain authenticity to the high school talent show, and through noir mock-Jeff Buckley licks subtly alludes to Good Will Hunting.
Two funny actors playing… two, uh, famous actors in a well-written show that looks great. What’s not to love?
