The Ties That Bind — and Occasionally, Restrain

[caption id="attachment_73996" align="alignnone" width="800"] Jane (Carolann DiPirro) and Billy (Edward A. Brennan) en route to his parents' house in a scene from the HTC production of "Clever Little Lies" in Quogue. Tom Kochie photo[/caption]

By Annette Hinkle

When it comes to the major relationships in life, perhaps none is quite as significant as that of spouses. Think about it. Two totally unrelated people meet, get married and agree to commit themselves to making a life together by running a household, raising children and ultimately, creating a legacy for the next generation.

Well, at least, that’s how it’s supposed to go.

As we also know, dysfunction and family go hand in hand, and statistics indicate that only half of all marriages in this country are destined to last. But that doesn’t keep people from trying, and even those who successfully stay married for a lifetime always bring plenty of baggage along for the ride.

The volatile nature of long-term and short-term spousal devotion — along with its potential pitfalls and perils — lie at the core of “Clever Little Lies,” Joe DiPietro’s 2012 play that opens the 2017-18 season this weekend at Hampton Theatre Company (HTC).

HTC board president Andrew Botsford directs this production, a four-hander that features two sets of couples at very different points in their lives — Alice and Bill Sr. (who have recently become grandparents) and their son Billy and his wife Jane. It’s a play that treads on very familiar terrain for couples at both ends of the marital longevity spectrum and in a recent phone interview with the Express, Botsford noted that HTC felt “Clever Little Lies” was a good solid show with which to open the season.

[caption id="attachment_73995" align="alignright" width="434"] Alice (Diana Marbury), Jane (Carolann DiPirro), Billy (Edward A. Brennan) and Bill Sr. (Terrance Fiore) hash out some relationship issues in a scene from "Clever Little Lies." Tom Kochie photo[/caption]

He explains that the play begins with father and son — Bill Sr. (Terrance Fiore) and Billy (Ed Brennan) — having a chat in the locker room after a round of tennis. In the course of their discussion, Billy confesses to his father that things are not going great in his marriage to Jane (Carolann DiPirro), despite the fact that they have recently had their first baby.

Billy doesn’t want his mother to know, and though Bill promises not to share the news with Alice (Diana Marbury), nonetheless, back at home he soon caves under pressure and spills the beans about their son and daughter-in-law’s marital woes.

“Alice wants to fix the marriage,” explains Botsford. “So, they invite the young couple to come over and she tries to get to the root of what’s going on. Though her husband hasn’t told her everything.”

From a production standpoint, “Clever little Lies’” straightforward structure plays out in just four scenes and three locations — the locker room, the living room of Bill and Alice’s home, and Billy and Jane’s car as they drive to his parents house with baby on board.

But the territory the play covers in those four scenes dives deep into the emotional core of how marriages can suffer and endure (or not) in the face of pressures exerted upon them by outside influences. As a director, Botsford finds the challenge of the piece is to allow the characters’ flaws and vulnerabilities to show, but in a way that provides balance to help explain the choices they’ve made in their lives — choices that are not always good.

“What these characters do, makes the audience want to judge them and it makes them unlikeable,” admits Botsford. “You have to get them into the character in such a way they become, not victims, but more human, and don’t have to be condemned for their choices.”

“That’s a struggle,” he adds. “There are no villains in this piece — but everyone has issues.”

While Bill and Alice initially invite Billy and Jane over in order to share their reflections on the struggles and benefits of long-term marriage in order to help their son and daughter-in-law survive the hurdles they face, some of the mistakes made by the older couple along the way inevitably come out in the open.

“There are some judgments about the son and we draw conclusions about what dad, mom and the wife are like that are turned on its ear,” explains Botsford, keen not to reveal too much about how the scenario plays out. “There’s an object lesson Alice wants to make for her son in the final scene, then she is confessing and it becomes more hard hitting.”

It’s pretty heavy stuff, but fortunately, notes Botsford, DiPietro has included a good dose of levity in the script to lighten the load.

“It’s very comedic.” he says. “The son’s confession to his father is humorous, though heart wrenching. There’s some humor in the car scene as the son and daughter-in-law drive over to the parents. When we see the mother, it’s comedic when she tries to weasel the details out of her husband.”

“It’s not straight up comedy — it’s both hilarious and shattering,” he adds.

Ultimately, the play is about relationships — between parents, children and spouses — at both ends of the marital spectrum.

“You get the colors of these relationships,” says Botsford. “Yes, it’s hard to take sometimes, but that’s the way life is. That’s the challenge.”

“One of the main messages of the play is from Bill, the dad,” adds Botsford. “He says that the best marriages go on and on. Sometimes you’re really happy and sometimes it’s terrible. It’s not perfect all the time, but you have to find the happy in whatever you’re doing rather than looking to change your life.”

Joe DiPietro’s “Clever Little Lies" runs at the Quogue Community Hall, 125 Jessup Avenue, from Thursday, October 26 to Sunday, November 12 with shows on Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. An additional Saturday matinee will be offered on November 11, the final weekend of the production, with a lunch and theater package available that day at Quogue Club at the Hallock House.

HTC is also offering special dinner theater packages throughout the run in collaboration with the Westhampton, Southampton, Hampton Bays and Quogue libraries. For information about packages, contact the libraries or go to hamptontheatre.org. For tickets visit the website or call OvationTix at 1-866-811-4111.