Playwright Wendy Graf proves herself as adept at the romcom two-hander as she is at her dark, dramatic solo pieces in Unemployed Elephants – A Love Story, a Victory Theatre World Premiere sparked by Maria Gobetti’s deft direction and a couple of couldn’t-be-better leads.

Brea Bee and Marshall McCabe meet cute at the Bangkok Airport when he catches her in a lie, though it’s hardly the last untruth either of them will tell over the course of the next ninety minutes. (For instance, she claims to have resolved long before departure to “completely unplug” while in Southeast Asia, then promptly reveals having done nothing the past three days but check her messages.)

  Indeed, if ever a romantic comedy has been built on the lies its protagonists tell, Unemployed Elephants – A Love Story is that romcom.

Is she, who insists they remain on a no-name basis, flying solo to Myanmar during monsoon season because of the discount rate or is she on a group tour?  Did she win her ticket in a raffle, or is she honeymooning all by herself after a last-minute breakup?

As for the annoying stranger, is he on assignment for Animal Planet to report on the titular “unemployed” elephants of Myanmar or is this just the kind of cover story a CIA agent would invent?

And the twosome haven’t even arrived in Myanmar (formerly Burma) yet, which means they’re just getting started with their tall tales.

Not surprisingly (at least for anyone who’s seen Tom and Meg, or Richard and Julia, or Sandra and just about every one of her leading men ignite silver screen sparks), it’s dislike at first sight for these two mismatched strangers who can’t seem to stop bumping into each other (another romcom convention Graf is wise to follow), and if neither yet knows they’re MFEO (see Sleepless In Seattle if you don’t get the acronym), we most certainly do, or we’d surely fail Romantic Comedy 101.

A multiple-character cast would allow Graf to add the genre’s requisite romantic rivals and quirky featured players to the mix (even a brief ninety minutes may be a tad too long for just two characters), but with the instantly likable Bee (who knows her romcom stuff from costarring in one of the best of recent years, Silver Lining Playbook) and the equally irresistible McCabe (who could give Tom Hanks or Hugh Grant or indeed Playbook’s Bradley Cooper a run for their millions), Graf’s He and She have the audience in the palms of their hands from the get-go.

Local Myanmar color proves an added plus, and not just in the teak lattice panels of scenic designer Evan Bartoletti’s Southeast Asia-evoking set or Nick Santiago’s travel brochure-ready projections. The titular pachyderms, jobless since a government export ban left them without tree trunks to drag, get frequent mention as do “Myanmarian” nuns and, in a nod to recent tragic events, the country’s ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority Rohingya.

Still, it’s not politics but romance on Unemployed Elephants – A Love Story’ mind despite how long it takes our opposites-attractive couple to figure out what any romcom lover has seen coming from their Bangkok airport meet cute.

Carol Doehring’s lighting, Meagan Evers’s costumes, and Noah Andrade’s sound design and original music composition add to the production design magic, with Bee and McCabe doing brisk double duty moving set pieces in smoothly executed scene changes.

Unemployed Elephants – A Love Story is produced by Gobetti and Tom Ormeny. Sean Spencer is stage manager and Jennifer Brown and Breshena Crosby are assistant stage managers. Lily Rains is understudy.

All-American Girl and No Word In Guyanese For Me proved Wendy Graf’s skill at politically themed solo shows. Without abandoning world events, Unemployed Elephants – A Love Story’s lighter touch, particularly in the comedically gifted hands of its two ever so charismatic stars, exerts its own charms.

The Victory Theatre Center, 3326 W. Victory Blvd., Burbank.
www.thevictorytheatrecenter.org

–Steven Stanley
March 9, 2018
Photos: Tim Sullens

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, The Victory Theatre Center, Wendy Graf