One Night Stand

The production currently playing in the Tron’s studio space is aptly named. It is a passionate romp that seduces with its energy and potential but just doesn’t quite measure up on reflection afterwards.

Clocking in at just over an hour, it follows a man and woman during a 24-hour period. Told in flashback by the man, we see how this couple met and the results of their running off with each other on a whim.

The production is mostly credited to Nick Underwood. He serves as writer, producer, co-composer and lead actor. As an actor, Underwood creates an instantly likeable character and switches between narrator and active player with ease. He is joined onstage with Melody Grove, who more than equals Underwood’s energy and likeability.

However, the production is let down some by Underwood the writer. There’s nothing particularly wrong with the script; it’s literate and tells its story well. However, it’s hard to find much to get excited about a story that is, for the most part, pedestrian. There are attempts to darken the hue of the story, but most of these twists are almost clichés. And while the play-on-words and rhyming lines can be fun, they can also be grating and are many times predictable.

What isn’t predictable, however, is the design concept. Mark Melville’s sound and music are hypnotic and add nice flourishes to the production, but it is Kai Fischer who is the true champion. His set, lighting and video projections are works of beauty that add much needed poignancy. His work is a lesson to present and future practitioners as to what design can contribute and accomplish, even in small spaces.