Sex in the Digital Age

PCS's new play is less Tinder, more traditional.

By Richard Speer

It's hard to imagine two characters more different than Olivia and Ethan. She's a neurotic intellectual who's always cleaning; he talks with his mouth full and pees with the bathroom door open. But it doesn't take long for these polar personalities to wind up doing the nasty in Sex With Strangers, playwright Laura Eason's ode to romance in the age of Wi-Fi.

Olivia and Ethan meet at a secluded writers' retreat in Michigan during a blizzard that's knocked out the cottage's Internet signal. Cut off from the digital realm, they get to know one another quickly. As it turns out, she's an unsuccessful novelist and he's the author of a bestselling memoir about his prolific sexual exploits.

Danielle Slavick deftly captures Olivia's insecurity and smouldering erotic potential. Padding around in pajama pants and frumpy sweaters, she's an adorable geek. Christopher M. Smith plays up Ethan's vanity and bravado—and he's a hot piece to look at in skimpy underwear and a tank top. The dialogue delivers plenty of laughs, but Portland Center Stage stays pretty PG. Director Brandon Woolley handles the tame sex scenes with finely calibrated restraint.

The big question is whether this unlikely pair will stay together. As the second act progresses and Olivia's novel sells, she trades her frumpy duds for chic dresses and begins checking her iPhone incessantly. Ethan grows up a little after some hard knocks, and to everyone's surprise the erstwhile smut peddler writes a novel that has serious literary chops. But Eason leaves the ending ambiguous, which feels like a trite cop-out.

For an au courant love story that's about having sex with strangers, Sex With Strangers is retrograde in its sensibility. Gender stereotypes abound. Olivia is uptight, commitment-seeking and worried about aging; Ethan is a crass stud-muffin who just wants to get laid. In the end, monogamy prevails. Still, with its sharp dialogue and nuanced performances, the play is satisfying in the way that whipped cream is: a light treat before bedtime—the perfect nightcap and maybe even better than sex.

see it: Sex With Strangers is at Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesday-Sunday, noon Thursday and 2 pm Saturday-Sunday. Through Nov. 22. $25-$50.

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