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Author: Harold Kahm |
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Title: The Crowded Bed |
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Where seen: Performed
in Minneapolis, Mn, September 2000, Acadia Café
Theater, by the Blair Comedy Project |
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Director: John Townsend |
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Performance time: |
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Cast: Anthony
Kuehn, Joe Hart, |
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Recording available: |
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Relevance to DOASKDOTELL: |
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Review Review of the Play
“The Crowded Bed,” by Harold Kahm. The Crowded Bed, by Harold Kahm
(approx. 1968). This performance
was directed by John Townsend, author himself of Porno
Raid Suicide. The title more or
less suggests the plot. Two young men, of opposite sides of the railroad
tracks, are manipulated by a young lady (Carver) who schemes to marry them
both legally, in different European countries a few minutes apart. Moreover, she schemes to invoke the “tender
trap” upon both. Are we to believe
both young men love her so much that they will share a bed with her and
become best friends, like the feuding Capulets in Romeo
and Juliet? Had I put this on, I
might have played the Berlioz opus as background music! There is the rich
boy (Keuhn) who confides in his therapist
(Townsend) that he doesn’t feel so good about himself, because he thinks
people will want him only for his inheritance. Well, he takes a low-work job in a
bookstore, continually gets fired for non-performance and has to use his
money to get reinstated. Call it,
buying your job in a rough economy?
Well, the 60’s were good economically, and these young men were
exposed to the draft, not mentioned in the play. We get a little tired of his saying, “I’m
just a lowly bookstore clerk and I make just $185 a week.” Decent wages for the 60’s for an
entry-level job? Well, at one time I had never worked before and would have
taken it. Ah, to be young. The other boy
friend (John Hart) is blue collar, penniless, and ,
oh, so masculine. But his masculinity
is of the hairless, barren, Mark Wahlberg kind. Penetrative performance is all that
matters, symbols and external trappings of manhood don’t count His language is coarse, “ball my
chick!” He tries to be “friends” with
his rival and constantly loses his temper and threatens to kill him. Oh, well, this is
supposed to be a play about sexual liberation from a female point of
view. There’s a lot more to that, say,
in the writings of Wendy McElroy. I
found myself absorbed as I watched it, even if the setup is preposterous.
Situation comedy, no less. Three’s a
crowd, so the old crossword puzzle saying goes. Well, no more so than in I
Love Lucy. To reach the
Acadia Theater, call
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