A socially distanced dark comedy about the pandemic, nostalgically set during the early days when we were all microwaving our mail and thinking about killing our spouses, is playing now in Key West.
God knows there hasn’t been much to laugh about the last couple of years.
Pandemics tend to lean that way. But thanks to Hy Conrad, the writer/producer of the “Monk” comedy series, Key West gets a chance to shake off a little of the downside with his new play, “Quarantine For Two,” which opened a four-week run on Feb. 15 at Key West’s Red Barn Theatre. The production marks the play’s American premiere.
“Hy and I were chatting one day and we thought a funny play about this might be good for people, to lighten things up a bit. And who better to do that than Hy Conrad?” said artistic director Joy Hawkins.
The play centers on a middle-aged suburban couple, played by David Black and Mimi
McDonald. Their year of quarantining at home hasn’t gone well. They’ve driven each other crazy, and each has come to the conclusion that for their own sanity, they need to kill the other. Their attempts to do just that – with the involvement of a somewhat dim and double-dealing pool boy-turned-hitman played by Rhett Kalman – leads to a hilarious escalation of complications.
“I tend to write toward comedy and crime,” Conrad said. “The idea of two people in lockdown
who desperately want to kill each other seemed to make comic sense. The challenge was balancing the truth in the COVID situation with finding the humanity in the characters and making it funny.”
“The last two years have been so surreal and ludicrous and crazy,” Hawkins said. “So let’s just
jump in and laugh at the predicament we’ve all been in. Because somewhere in all of this, we
really do need to find a laugh.”
Tickets for “Quarantine For Two,” the second of the Red Barn’s season of “Bright and Brilliant
Comedies,” are available now at redbarntheatre.com or by calling 305-296-9911.
The Red Barn is a COVID-compliant theater and asks that all patrons follow COVID protocols. They can voluntarily offer their vaccination card. Masks will be required inside the
theater, and seating is limited more than normal due to a social distancing seating plan.
The play is sponsored in part by Jane Gardner Interiors, the Florida Department of State
Division of Cultural Affairs and the Monroe County Tourist Development Council.
