Off-B'way Review: A Guide for the Homesick

Uly Schlesinger and 
McKinley Belcher III in A Guide for
the Homesick.
Credit: Russ Rowland

Ken Urban’s A Guide for the Homesick, now at the intimate Daryl Roth 2 stage following a run at Huntington Theater Company in 2017, has its heart in the right place. The gay-themed two-hander seeks to explore issues of internalized and societal homophobia, survivor guilt, and male intimacy, but the melodramatic script only succeeds in stretching credulity and bursting the eardrums, thanks to the exaggerated acting and frenetic staging by Shira Milikowsky.

The play starts off conventionally enough. Tourist and finance consultant Teddy (McKinley Belcher III) has brought medical aide worker Jeremy (Uly Schlesinger) up to his Amsterdam hotel room (Lawrence Moten III designed the generic set.) The latter is awaiting his flight back to Boston and Teddy’s co-traveller and work colleague Eddie has left for the States early. The two chat to kill time. The air between them is supposedly fraught with sexual tension, until the first one makes an advance. From there, Urban’s plot unravels, revealing that both characters have shaming secrets they want to forget. Teddy’s relationship with Eddie turns out to be more than a casual work connection and Jeremy is fleeing a disastrous encounter in Africa with a gay patient named Nicholas. 

 

With the aid of effective lighting changes by designer Abigail Hoke-Brady, the respective stories are told in flashback with Belcher playing Nicholas and Schlesinger as Eddie. Belcher is impressive in his differentiation between his two personae, capturing Teddy’s sturdy confidence and Nicholas’ flirtatious coyness as well as an authentic Ugandan accent. Schlesinger is less effective in making distinctions between Jeremy and Eddie. Both actors make a game effort at conveying their dual characters’ conflicts, but Urban’s script requires the audience to make too many leaps of faith. Total strangers only divulge their innermost selves after an hour’s acquittance in plays or fiction. 

Uly Schlesinger and 
McKinley Belcher III in A Guide for
the Homesick.
Credit: Russ Rowland

In addition, the chemistry between the two actors is not strong. Their explosive revelations feel forced despite their raised voices. The important issue of violent African homophobia, ginned up by visiting American evangelicals, is raised but not fully developed or addressed. It feels as if the characters are spokespeople for issues rather than real human beings dealing with messy circumstances. Belcher and Schlesinger make a game effort to bring depth to their roles, but A Guide for the Homesick comes across as an undeveloped melodrama.

Dec. 12—Feb. 2. DR2 Theater, 101 E. 15th St., NYC. Running time: 80 mins. with no intermission. telecharge.com