Take Me Out

Written by Written by Richard Greenberg
Directed by Joe Mantello

Review by Alan Bird
June 2003

When top baseball player Darren Lemming decides to come out of the closet and unexpectedly announce in an interview that he is gay it has some unfortunate consequences, especially for the homophobic Shane Mungitt.

This play, that challenges the homophobia that is often found in professional sport, introduces us to some interesting characters; Lemming and his best buddy Kippy Sunderstrom who make some remarkably sharp and witty quips; Mason Marzac, an uptight accountant who slowly unwinds due to his love of baseball is a loveable comic character that steals the show in the second act.

The disappointment with the show lies in the fact that the good guys are so easily separated from the bad guys by, what appears to be a degree in English. Whilst Lemming, Sunderstrom and Marzac are erudite, Shane Mungitt is an illiterate dimwit. Since the essence of the script is about how people respond to Lemmings announcement about his sexuality, to have the openly aggressive homophobic character portrayed as a racist, misogynist imbecile means that the bigot is an easy character to assassinate, and as a result the play lacks substance. Despite this major downfall, the twists and turns in the plot are clever, the dialogue perceptive, and the characters engaging enough to make this play worthwhile.

(Note: this play contains full frontal male nudity).

(Alan Bird)