The Water’s Fine, but Some Things Are Not
Charles IsherwoodOctober 13, 2014: A good rule of thumb: Never get into a hot tub with total strangers. Sure, some fun things can happen — many a 1970s porn movie traded on such a premise — but mighty bad ones can, too, as the new play Jacuzzi, written by and starring Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen, slyly intimates. Set in a ski town in Colorado, the play, a production from the Debate Society that opened on Monday night at Ars Nova, takes place in a cozy living area dominated by a big tub. As it begins, a young man and woman are enjoying the steaming water, so comfortably in contrast to the snow piled up outside. They seem at home, but when a ski-suited figure blows into the room, we learn that Bo (Chris Lowell), as he introduces himself, is actually the son of the proprietor, and he wasn’t expecting to encounter guests. Or a Jacuzzi, either. This recent addition was the long-cherished brainchild of Bo’s dad, who went through an acrimonious divorce from Bo’s mother, and who somehow ended up with this chalet that’s long been in her family. He’s always wanted to plant a Jacuzzi in it, and now that it’s his, he’s got his wish.
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