Rent-Controlled Love

By T.E. Kalem

6 RMS RIV VU by BOB RANDALL

There are some plays that a reviewer would rather feed than judge. Like stray kittens, they rub up against you in an imploring, hard-to-resist way and make friendly little noises. They are so thin that one yearns to put flesh on the bones of their plots, give them vitamin-rich lines to chew, and nourish their characters and situations.

6 Rms Riv Vu is just such a starveling kitten of a comedy. The title is classified-ad shorthand for an apartment with a river view. The locale is Manhattan. Inspecting the rent-controlled flat are two strangers, Anne (Jane Alexander) and Paul (Jerry Orbach), both married, but with their respective spouses otherwise occupied. A missing doorknob effectively locks them in together.

They begin giving each other resumes of their lives. He is Jewish, N.Y.U. She is Catholic, Barnard College. He is an ad copywriter who once wrote short stories. She is a devoted but mildly discontented mother of two tots. Since they both approach adultery with the subdued ardor of a visit to the dentist, an enormous burden is placed on the dialogue, which is not saucy enough as banter and not solid enough as humor. Anne and Paul finally do play connubial hooky, but the sheer logistics of an illicit affair soon drive them, with considerable relief, back home.

Decency of this sort may be praiseworthy in real life, but it is slim fodder for a sexual comedy. In admirably well-keyed performances, Orbach and Alexander are adept at conveying the festering guilt of two fundamentally honorable people who are good at chatting, bad at cheating. "

.T.E. Kalem

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