The Victory Theatre and Barebones presents “The End of Sex,” written by Gay Walch, directed by Maria Gobetti. Produced by Maria Gobetti and Gabriel Ormenyi.
Extended through June 9, Friday, Saturday at 8pm; Sunday at 4pm
When we get to a certain age things can slow down a bit in the bedroom.
It’s not something people are particularly keen on discussing and it means very different things to women than it does to men. The reality of sex in a relationship is a tricky subject to think about let alone write a play about and the end of it, even the feeling that it might end in some way someday is even trickier.
“The End of Sex” tackles this sticky subject, if you will pardon the pun, with the use of two couples. The older couple is the parents of the younger female half of the other couple and they are meeting for dinner on the night of the mother’s birthday. Before the daughter and her dour husband arrive, the parents discuss the sex in their marriage and the mother announces that she is done, with sex, possibly forever.
Of course, this revelation has an obvious effect on her husband who, it becomes clear, is far from done. As the play unfolds, the daughter and her husband arrive and the daughter relentlessly prods for more information and considers options and ‘cures’, which mortifies just about everyone, and we discover just how universal is the currency of sex. The giving and receiving, withholding and obsessing, the manipulations and the frustrations. Sex in a long-term and committed relationship can become far more complicated than when it is casual and without expectations. This play explores those complications and faces head on what happens when complicated is not sexy.
This is a beautifully written play. The characters are rivetingly real and the performances just explode with nuance, meaning and gorgeous sadness.
The Victory is fearless in its support of fine and fascinating plays about subjects one might not immediately consider to be a source for communal fascination. “The End of Sex” is another in a long line of world premieres, always wonderful and chosen with the expertise of a museum curator and always given the room they need to breath and grow and become excellent.
I highly recommend “The End of Sex.” Bring your spouse…and your sense of humor. Bravo!!!
https://ci.ovationtix.com/35020/production/1007485
The Victory Theatre, 3326 W. Victory Blvd., Burbank, 91505
Running April 26 through June 9, Friday, Saturday at 8pm; Sunday at 4pm
STARRING: Sara Botsford, Tom Ormeny, Austin Highsmith, Chad Coe, and Lianna Liew
Author: Samantha Simmonds-Ronceros
Samantha Simmonds-Ronceros is a Theatre and Food Writer and Filmmaker living in Los Angeles.