Perfect Arrangement-Love & Consequences

~Reviewed by Doc Lawrence

Two couples work for the State Department in Washington where the workplace environment is in sync with the extreme politics of the day. Congressmen are on the lookout in the State Department for spies, traitors and people they view as suspicious, which could be almost anyone. Termination is often summary and the consequences are fatal to a career. 

It’s not today but the so-called fabulous fifties, the McCarthy era of witch hunts where careers and reputations were under threat on a day-to-day basis.

Atlanta resident Topher Payne’s Perfect Arrangement takes us back to the era where the Red Scare spawned the outing of “deviants”  called the Lavender Scare. Throughout the scenes, clever lines manifest almost on demand and even in the danger zone of exposure, there’s room for some hilarious lines, a reminder that well-place humor is a way to fight back.

Love is a Perilous Journey                

Perfect Arrangement is set in comfortable Georgetown where two gay couples hold onto their government jobs at high personal risk. Living and working means keeping their love life from the prying eyes of almost everyone. The tension from fear raises its ugly head despite efforts to remain “normal” through a charade that begins to unravel.

Payne, an award winning playwright and Cabbagetown resident, journeys along the perilous road of love. The play asks if these perils are really worth the consequences of exposure. Comedy is juxtaposed with danger. Some scenes are lighthearted; others sad and suspenseful. But, you get the message: if given an environment that encourages suspicion and humiliation over merit, accomplishment, talent and decency, no person is safe. Tolerance is always under threat.

Tightly directed by Adam Koplan with stellar, flawless performances from a talented cast, Perfect Arrangement resonates along with the events of today. Tom Key, Theatrical Outfit’s founding artistic director instructs us about the way toward love. “Progress begins when we have the ears to hear another’s stories and we come to know that we all share the same story; that what we have in common is far greater than what divides us.”

Perfect Arrangement, by entertaining, tells a story that transcends our differences and in Mr. Key’s words, “until we are safe with one another, no one is safe.”

Through March 18. theatricaloutfit.org

Photos by Greg Mooney, courtesy of Theatrical Outfit