STAGE WEST: "Straddle" at Diversionary Theatre

Summer Broyhill (left) and Marti Gobel in "Straddle."                                                  Photo by Xingyu She

            If you look up “straddle” in a dictionary it may say something like “a gesture between two people, of intimacy or possibly of dominance.”
            The back-and-forth between those two dynamics makes for a simmering undercurrent in Diversionary Theatre’s world-premiere production of Harrison David Rivers’ “Straddle.”
            For the first 10 to 15 minutes of this one-act co-conceived and directed by Diversionary’s Sherri Eden Barber, a long-married lesbian couple, Dodie (Summer Broyhill) and Vida (Marti Gobel), go a lot further than straddling each other in a fancy hotel room. I’ve seen some explicit depictions of sexual activity onstage before, but none that I recall as explicit as this. It makes a production I saw earlier this year, the quasi-graphic staging of Adam Rapp’s “Red Light Winter” by OnWord Theatre (of which Gobel is a co-founder), look like a Disney Channel special.
            But just as two lovers’ hunger and infatuation are apt to become two marrieds’ tension and anxiety, Dodie and Vida’s fun is interrupted by the reality of having kids at home being looked after by Grandma or, more disruptive, by a veiled accusation. What took Dodie so long getting a bucket of ice for the room, Vida challenges. “Truth or truth?” is a recurring ultimatum in “Straddle.”
            For just about all of the play’s 80 minutes Dodie and Vida alternate between being physically magnetized by each other (pretty impressive after 14 years of marriage!) and being at odds. Most of the latter is incited by Vida, who seems unable to sustain the spirit of play that her wife is enjoying the hell out of.
            There’s a truce when Dodie lights up a joint and the two proceed to get high. It’s quite funny, but how many times have I seen this old device onstage?
            Nothing in “Straddle’s” first hour prepares you for its confrontational, soul-baring, truth-telling windup. The less said about it here the more it will surprise and maybe enlighten you later.
            Broyhill, who brings to mind Geena Davis, gets to play with the most comedy in “Straddle,” whether it’s ordering hotel food while high or haplessly kicking in a door. Gobel is right there with her, comedy-wise, during the weed-smoking scene, but there’s gravitas in her portrayal of Vida, believable as lover, wife, mother and, eventually, a woman who is willing to share all, painful as all can be.
            The hotel room designed by McKenna Perry is contemporary and appointed in the way that “hip” hotel rooms can be, and designer Annelise Schultz-Salazar has lit the furnishing and mirrors for passionate proceedings. The focal point on the stage is the bed. You probably figured that.
            “Straddle” is sexier and sultrier than it is meaningful, and aside from learning that the two women met at a laundromat I’d like to have learned more about them BEFORE they met, something that could provide added perspective on who they’ve become together. To this end, “Straddle” is more voyeuristic than revelatory.
            “Straddle” runs through March at Diversionary Theatre in University Heights.