WITH its tense portrait of nine characters coping with the pressures of urban life, “Unconditional,” by Brett C. Leonard, has the feel of a lost Sidney Lumet film from the ’70s. Unfortunately, it is being presented right now, onstage, by the LAByrinth Theater Company.
The production, directed by Mark Wing-Davey, is one of the most awkwardly designed enterprises ever encountered on a New York stage.
Audience members sit at the far ends of the long playing area – there are also viewers on raised seats along the sides, but judging by their constant contortions, their views seemed to be obstructed – and half the time the performers are at the other end facing away from us. Constant scene changes had the performers dodging the scenery as much as actually acting.
The play depicts the sexually and racially charged interactions of a gallery of New Yorkers, including an African-American man (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) violently reacting to being laid off from his job of 25 years, and an interracial couple (Kevin Geer, Yolanda Ross) awkwardly beginning a relationship even while each of their marriages disintegrates.
The multiplicity of brief disconnected scenes results in a choppy, episodic structure that is ultimately wearisome. Despite the excellent efforts of the talented ensemble, not all characters or situations are fully engaging.
The playwright clearly has a talent for pungently profane dialogue – much of it delivered by the terrific John Doman as a divorced, middle-age criminal who resorts to violence when he feels he’s being cheated by his employee (Chris Chalk) – but too often the proceedings have the feel of sub-par David Mamet.
UNCONDITIONAL
The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St.; (212) 967-7555. Through March 9.