A husband’s midlife crisis gives Marcia Cross and Matt Letscher the chance to show off their considerable acting chops, but Joanna Murray-Smith’s Honour, the first production to be staged in Ruskin Group Theatre’s gorgeous new home, proves a rather chilly affair given the play’s potentially fiery subject matter.

It’s been thirty-two years since Cross’s Honor gave up a promising future as a poet to marry Letscher’s now highly successful journalist George, and as far as she is concerned, things couldn’t be going more swimmingly for a woman who’s got a loving husband and a bright 20something daughter like Sophie (Jude Elizabeth Mayer).

There’s certainly no reason for her to fear the worst when hubby is interviewed by Claudia (Ariana Afradi), no matter that the profile writer is a raven-haired stunner who’d turn any heterosexual male’s eye.

Then comes the day that the worst does indeed happen, announced by George with a succinct “I’m leaving” that leaves Honor dazed and confused, their daughter feeling abandoned, and George’s hot new love blithely unconcerned by anything but what makes her married lover and her feel good.

Such a setup would seem to promise incendiary consequences, but by constructing her play as a series of mostly quite civil two-character scenes, things never get nearly as explosive as you might expect, particularly given the decision to use the 2003 “Britishized” version of Australian playwright Murray-Smith 1995 play.

On the one hand, turning characters portrayed as Americans in previous U.S. productions into Brits does allow Honour 2026’s American cast to show off impeccable RP accents.

On the other, it adds an extra layer of  civility to characters already frustratingly civil in their interactions, and I’d really like to have seen what Cross, Letscher, Afradi, and Mayer could have done with the roles in their own American accents.

That’s not to say that Honour isn’t worth seeing.

It most definitely is, if only for the chord it is likely to strike in audience members who may have found themselves, or family, or friends in Honor’s or George’s or Claudia’s or Sophie’s shoes, and for the discussions it is likely to provoke on the way home from the Ruskin.

Speaking of which, gone are the cramped (albeit rather charming) quarters the Santa Monica Airport-adjacent theater company has called home for years and in their place a spacious, state-of-the-art multi-stage complex I can’t wait to return to.

No wonder then that scenic designer Stephanie Kerley Schwartz is free to let her imagination soar in an expansive sofa-and-chairs set that features printed-word-festooned pillars resembling Chekhovian birch trees, a design that Edward Salas bathes in the warmest of hues, an interesting choice for a play whose tones are as wintry as Honour’s.

Leading lady Cross is quite stunning indeed under Max Mayer’s assured direction, though there’s an innate chill about her onstage/onscreen persona that keeps the audience at arms’ length.

The always outstanding Letscher is midlife crisis personified as a man more than willing to trade in the old and the worn (sorry Honor!) for the fresh and the new, and Afadi (a young Demi Moore) is not only a terrific actress but a visual stunner as well.

Last but not least, director Mayer’s daughter Jude is a major find as Sophie, a role that has us aching for the daughter caught in the crossfire of her parents’ wrecked marriage.

Michael Mullen’s costumes are precisely what each character would have opted to put on before heading out to face the world, and sound designer Keith Stevenson’s subtle musical underscoring is another plus.

Honour is produced by John Ruskin and Michael R. Myers. Gaby Santinelli is dialect coach. Samantha Reynolds is set design assistant. Casting is by Paul Ruddy. Judith Borne is publicist.

Nicole Millar is production stage manager.

Marcia Cross and Matt Letscher are my favorite kind of working actors, those whose successful screen careers haven’t stopped them from returning to the stage where a thespian’s mettle is truly tested.

Honour may not entirely hit the mark, but as a talent showcase for its cast, a conversation starter for the audience, and a chance to rediscover Ruskin Group Theatre in its new and improved digs, it’s worth checking out.

Ruskin Group Theatre, 2800 Airport Avenue, Santa Monica. Through March 22. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00, Sundays at 2:00.
www.ruskingrouptheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
March 1, 2026
Photos: Jeff Lorch

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Joanna Murray-Smith, Los Angeles Theater Review, Ruskin Group Theatre