Review: Good Night; Never Goodbye (Rouge Festival) - The Munro Review
A woman discovers her husband is having an affair. Instead of confronting him about it, she calls someone else: the husband of the woman her husband is sleeping with. Meet me in a hotel room, she says. We need to talk.
Charles Jackson Jr. and Allison Coats, of Lubbock, Texas, use that premise in “Good Night; Never Goodbye,” a piece of theater that is a satisfying blend of improvisation and filmed entertainment. I was drawn to this show not because of the storyline but instead because of the show’s crackle of acting energy. Jackson (who gives a very strong performance) and Coats (an appealing actor) filmed very long takes without scripted dialogue but while knowing where the general story is going.
Sure, I had a lot of questions about this piece, plot-wise. Why is the man so insistent for so long that the revelation of his wife’s affair is a prank? Why wouldn’t the woman talk to her husband first before arranging a hotel-room rendezvous?
But I also like that the narrative spins off in unexpected directions. And the chance to get to talk to the actors live afterward about the experience adds a sense of immediacy to the experience.
-Reviewed by Donald Munro