←Recommendations of Carnality

A perfect play for an actor and actress to perform. There is a lot to play with regarding the dialogue as Ben and Michelle go back and forth between hate and love. Mark Loewenstern does an excellent job examining the pain and confusion of divorce in this thought-provoking ten minute play. Well done!

This must be the most difficult situation for a couple to try to pull away from, split between love and hate, probably in equal measure. Mark portrays this brilliantly in this well written, beautiful play. I couldn't help but want to shout at them "get back together, you both know you want to!" Great!

Loewenstern's moving, theatrical and expertly written play shows in its taut ten minutes a newly divorced couple still deeply connected to each other yet unable to figure out how to navigate that connection or what to do about it. It's no surprise this powerfully truthful play has received so many productions. As an added bonus a monologue from the play can now be viewed on YouTube as part of Mind the Gap Theatre's Housebound Series. Grab it!

There is a palpable feeling of sadness in this play for a couple who must remain in each other’s lives not only for the sake of their very young child, but also because they still have a physical and emotional connection to each other that is raw and familiar like the steak we can smell being cooked. Loewenstern gives us a taste of the confusing dance a newly divorced couple performs and it is quite powerful.

Loewenstern takes a familiar scenario - newly divorced couple negotiating joint custody, civility and school choices - and adds a real-time frying steak and an ongoing discussion of the primal instincts that drive affection, that means we know where this is going but can't help but think that after the inevitable backslide that these two will just remain more confused than ever: but it's not their fault.

Loewenstern starts these two on medium-high and turns up the heat. This play sizzles, like the steak it's cooking, the chemistry between 'Michelle' and 'Ben' charges through the discoveries they make, even at this critical juncture in their relationship. There's not a wasted line, not a moment tossed aside in this short, tense play, a goldmine for actors to swing from perilous emotional beat to beat.

Loewenstern provides tension, chemistry, and steak in this short play. This is a teetering-on-the-edge-of-will-they-or-won't-they? play. The tension and chemistry between Michelle and Ben are rich, and they slowly, perhaps tantalizingly, unfurl.

When done right, this play will make you hungry. Ravenously hungry. For MEAT!
It's also an honest, well-observed drama with two terrific roles for actors and a story that resonates. Hell, I saw it about two decades ago and it's still with me. And now I'm hungry again just thinking about it.