The smaller Coen Brother made his off-Broadway debut as a playwright this month, with a triptych of one-act plays called Almost an Evening. Here is how the plays are described on the show’s website:
Waiting: Someone waits somewhere for quite some time.
Four Benches: His voyage to self-discovery takes a British intelligence agent to steam baths in New York and Texas, and to park benches in the U.S. and U.K.
Debate: Cosmic questions are taken up. Not much is learned.
Sounds positively Coen-esque, no? The author spoke to the AP about his work, his methods and meaning, all in his usual forthcoming fashion. “Sometimes, you know, you write 'em with a kind of an idea of where it's going to, what you're doing; sometimes, you write something you have no idea – for the merry hell of it – and you kind of see what'll happen next.”
This isn’t the first time Coen the Younger has flown solo, as readers of his short story collection Gates of Eden are aware. As is the case with his movie work with big brother Joel, Coen is reluctant to get into an intellectual analysis of his work. “I dare you to try with these. I mean, they're pretty patently just comedies,” he says about his one-act plays. “They have fun with certain ideas ... but, you know, it's pretty clear that they're just there for the fun to be had from them. Isn't it? I mean, it's pretty clear.”
Clear enough, I guess. Almost an Evening runs Tuesday through Saturday at 8 pm, with weekend matinees, through June 1st at The Theaters at 45 Bleecker. Get your tickets here.