The Realistic Joneses

(L to R) Emily Paton Davies as Jennifer, Michael Morgan as Bob, Casey Andree as John and Kate Parkin as Pony Photo: Michael Ensminger

"I'm tackling questions of intimacy and the small human things in the only way I know." ...

"I really make an effort to be myself and also to come up with something that's actually new." ...

"I also, for whatever reason, just might have a little bit in my blood some tilt or drift toward existential things."

—2014 Will Eno interview by Mark Lawson for The Guardian.

Emily Paton Davies as Jennifer and Michael Morgan as Bob Photo: Michael Ensminger

In The Realistic Joneses, the simplest intimacies, the stutter-step language of thought, and the bare-bones existential questions go hand-in-hand with Eno's story, as two couples, both with the last name of Jones, become neighbors. At first, the contrast between Bob (Michael Morgan) and Jennifer (Emily Paton Davies) Jones and their new acquaintances, John (Casey Andree) and Pony (Kate Parkin) Jones, appears stark, but in the course of a series of awkward moments, bouts of normalcy, nonverbal insights, and sexual undertones, we find each of the four Joneses in the midst of a painful transition—they are all so different; yet, so alike!

"I like hearing people in pain in rooms with good acoustics."
—Ibid.

Casey Andree as John and Kate Parkin as Pony Photo: Michael Ensminger

Although they don't know it at first, the Joneses share what Eno presents as a medical condition, Harriman Leavey Syndrome, a fictitious degenerative nerve disease, which exhibits characteristics pulled from some well-known diseases, one of which is a variant of aphasia, where one's ability to speak and employ language is impaired. Thus, the thought-speech processes of two of Eno's characters fit quite naturally with one of Eno's touchstones: that language has failed us. Perhaps, but there are other symbolic forms, such as music, art, and mathematics, that cover ground not designed for language. For example, "If music be the food of love, play on!" (Shake-speare, Twelfth Night, I, i, 1)

As a fiction, however, it works well for the story in many ways, not only by serving the Beckett-like dialogue, but metaphorically, as a diagnosis for the human condition under the present political, economic, and techno-social paradigms.

Casey Andree as John and Emily Paton Davies as Jennifer Photo: Michael Ensminger

Sitting under the stars with mountains in the background, Bob (Morgan) and Jennifer (Davies) venture from the mundane (painting the house) to the existential ("... your biggest fear?"). Then, heralded by the sound of banging trash cans, enter John (Andree) and Pony (Parkin) with a bottle of wine, to introduce themselves.

The scene evolves via exits to and entrances from the house, as the characters are mixed and matched and the Joneses share glimpses of their worlds, their occupations, and their aspirations—Bob's frustration with his language issues, Jennifer's need to connect on a deeper level, John's erudite non sequitors, Pony's hypersensitivity and fears—a nice setup for the story.

Michael Morgan as Bob and Kate Parkin as Pony Photo: Michael Ensminger

Whatever Harriman Leavey Syndrome is, Morgan's take on Bob's version is a revelation in lightning mood and thought swings. In this world, ennui is the new normal, which Davies deftly intertwines with Jennifer's moments of heart-centered, lucid contentment. Andree swiftly navigates through a variation of the Syndrome as well, juggling so many pieces of John's life, trying to keep a grip. Parkin performs wonders in finding the arc from Pony's flitting, surface consciousness to a deep connection that ushers the dra-medy to a sweet close.

Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company's regional premiere of The Realistic Joneses, directed by Stephen Weitz, runs through November 17th. For tickets: betc.org.

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