DESIRED AFFECTS: THREE ONE-ACT PLAYS
The play takes place in the squalid apartment of a roofer named Perry, whose wife Sandy is paralyzed from the waist down. She’s sitting propped up on the bed in her pajamas, reading a magazine, and Perry is making himself a sandwich at the kitchen table, when the front-door buzzer sounds. Sandy hears the voice of Eddie over the intercom and gets upset. “Don’t let him up,” she tells Perry. “I don’t like that little shit. . . . All the time starin’ at my tits.”
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The scene is painful to watch, especially since Michael Dalmon’s endearingly goofy performance makes Eddie a thoroughly sympathetic character. While sitting at the kitchen table with Perry, he does indeed sneak leering glances at Sandy and he admits that he likes to spend his money on prostitutes. Yet Dalmon emphasizes Eddie’s sincerity and genuine concern for others, making the character’s lechery seem innocent and harmless. Hanna Dworkin accentuates the ugliness of Sandy’s disposition by concealing it for a time behind a sweet facade as she tries to seduce Eddie. Their clash is nasty and painful, but it lends substance to this simple 40-minute play.
