[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Termination Fee, written by Ron Placone at the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2025.
Whenever I bring up universal healthcare to anyone American, there is always a distinct air of suspicion in whatever conversation follows. It’s as if the fact that every other industrialised country in the world and a few of the other ones’ citizens are all fully covered is some kind of sick joke, if you’ll pardon the pun. Nothing’s perfect, obviously, and not all these countries have everything worked out or are without the odd waiting list for certain things. But for heaven’s sake…compared to the almost unbelievable system in this country, they are perfection.
I’m English, so I have never understood why this strange situation persists here, in the wealthiest country in the world. I take it as a no brainer that illness is as much a part of life as anything else, so of course a country would do everything it could to prevent its citizens from suffering and certainly to help them when they are. Going bankrupt or selling everything you own just to stay alive is uniquely American ,sadly. And this cheerful reality is at the center of this funny, clever and poignant play, Termination Fee.
Neil and Adi are married, but not particularly happily. It seems as if they have just run out of love. Since they are both well aware of the situation, they have chosen to stay together, at least for the immediate future. Mostly because Neil has excellent healthcare and Adi does not, and she is diabetic and insulin is very expensive. Sound familiar? Healthcare holds people in unhappy marriages as well as unhappy jobs!
But when Neil is fired, they need to take a radical look at their life, their marriage and their collective future. Neil also just happens to have excellent life insurance and since he can’t stand the thought of starting all over again, in love or in work he thinks suicide is the best of some pretty dire options. He would make it seem like an accident, and Adi would have all the money she would need to live happily ever after…how grim.
But grim can be funny and Termination Fee is very, very funny. In fact, as I watched this play unfold, I couldn’t help but think what a brilliant film it would make. These two seemingly distant people who once loved each other enough to get married now find themselves so estranged that one is not only contemplating ending his life, he is actually including the other at every step. How did it come to this? Well, isn’t that question all over the zeitgeist right now?
Termination Fee explores less of the “why kill yourself” and more of the why not. For Neil, the choice seems clear. Why suffer, why trudge through the remainder of his life getting more and more bitter and lonely. Why not spare himself and Adi that pitiful end? There are countries that permit this, probably Scandinavian ones, and I think it’s something to consider. Lots of people do this every day out of despair, why not make it more gentle, available and accepted? Neil gives a good argument and Adi tries to give him his freedom. But in the end, we are all a bit on the selfish side, aren’t we? So the pain of complicity and regret wins.
Termination Fee is a superb Hollywood Fringe show. Ron Placone and Sara Kay Gadot are exceptionally good. Real, hilarious, emotionally connected and utterly believable. Think Jennifer Lawrence and Stanley Tucci, or Paul Rudd and Melisa McCarthy. The humor is dry, the apathy realistic and the resulting performances are absolutely fantastic! Highly recommended!!!
Tickets:
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/11542?tab=tickets
When:
Saturday, June 21 at 10:30 PM
Tuesday, June 24 at 9:30 PM
Sunday, June 29 at 3:00 PM
Where:
The Broadwater
6322 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038
****
Check out more Hollywood Fringe Festival 2025 show reviews>>