Same Time Next Year

In the director’s notes in the program for Same Time Next Year, produced by Heart Repertory Theatre and now playing at the Sammamish Valley Grange Hall in Woodinville, Jane Ryan writes, 

 

“I didn’t think I would want to direct it because it is about an extramarital affair and I’m happily married to my true love for 45 years. But many of my friends told me how much they love this play, and folks I would meet recounted their fond memories of seeing the play or the movie.”


This is perfect. It’s the same attitude of the characters, George and Doris. They wouldn’t have said ahead of time (would they?) that they wanted to have an affair, but when it presented itself — there it was and it looked so good they couldn’t resist. They live with that tension through the ups and downs of their lives for 25 years and we get to see it play out in two hours on the stage. 


BJ Smyth (George) and Erin Michele Gabbard (Doris) do a beautiful job with these characters and their relationship. They had me feeling all the emotions, and they brought the laughs throughout, both in the parts that were played for pure comedy and at other times when relief was needed. 


Each of them portrays the changes in their characters in six scenes over those two-and-a-half decades from 1951 to 1975. The conceit of the show is that George and Doris vow to meet every year on the anniversary of their first meeting. The scenes are five years apart. 


George starts as a manicky panicky young man in the first scene. It had a little vibe of Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate. Later he moves through Goldwater Republican and on to mellow middle age in a tweed sport coat and loafers. 


Doris at the beginning is in a long plaid skirt on her way to a Catholic retreat. Later she’s a hippie with a hint of Diane Keaton, then a successful businessperson. And in one of the scenes, she’s pregnant. It’s maybe the funniest scene of the show. 


What doesn’t change is who George and Doris really are, how they feel about each other and what their relationship means to each of them. You get the feeling that this cheating, if that’s what it is, made their own lives better – and made their marriages better too. 


So the characters made the right choice, Jane Ryan made the right choice to direct, and I made the right choice to see the show. Now if you make that choice too, I think you also will be happy you did. 


Photo from Heart Rep Facebook page

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