OTHER than delivering a cutesy pre-curtain announce ment, playwright Itamar Moses doesn’t actually appear in “Love/Stories (or But You Will Get Used to It),” an evening of short one-acts at the Flea. But he’s a dominant presence nonetheless, constantly letting us in on – as one of the play’s titles puts it – his “Authorial Intent.”
Moses has shown a considerable if not always fully polished talent with such plays as “Bach at Leipzig,” “The Four of Us” and “Back Back Back,” all of which had major off-Broadway productions. Here our enjoyment of these slight but well-written pieces is marred by his injecting himself a little too much into the proceedings.
Performed by the Flea’s talented young resident ensemble The Bats, the plays reflect a bittersweet attitude toward love.
The best vignettes are also the most straightforward – including the one about a playwright who begs an actress to sabotage the audition of an actor who’s dating his ex-girlfriend; a brief moment of passion between two temps, one of whom is still distraught over a breakup; and a lecture given by a Russian director in which he bitterly reveals his knowledge of his lover/translator’s affair.
It’s when Moses insists on self-reflexive posturing that the evening suffers. The overly complicated “Authorial Intent” begins with a pungent depiction of a couple’s relationship falling apart just days after they’ve started living together. The scenario is briefly reprised, with everything described in technical playwriting terms (“device,” “instrument,” etc.) Finally, we witness an interaction between the actors supposedly performing the scene.
There’s enough terrific writing in “Love/Stories” to demonstrate that Moses has plenty to say on the subject. One just wishes that the most ardent love story on display didn’t involve himself.
LOVE/STORIES (or BUT YOU WILL GET USED TO IT) Flea Theater, 41 White St. between Church Street and Broadway; 212-352-3101. Through March 9.