"Desperate Affection"

Maddie (Melissa O'Keefe), a struggling New York actress, might just have a good thing going with Richard (Cliff McCormick), a ... uh. .. what was his line of work again? He's a tad evasive on that subject, not to mention strangely teddy-bear-phobic, but otherwise quite attentive and considerate. Suffice to say that Richard's job is what brought Maddie into his life, and what most threatens to remove her from it; taking their relationship to the next level will be a matter of profound magnanimity. To give away any more of Bruce Graham's mordant and pardonably ridiculous comedy would be to spoil it, but it does seem important to add that he has enough wit and perspective to suggest a moral equivalency between dinner theater and murder-for-hire. And these two actors, clearly and appealingly a twisted pair of individuals, enjoy themselves, each other, and the proceedings very much. If O'Keefe seems to overuse her nonverbal hesitations here and there, perhaps it's by design, as a counterpoint to the diverting inscrutability of McCormick's poker face. Videographer Rand Courtney's stylish intro and ending take things unnecessarily into the motion-picture realm; otherwise Andrey Esterlis' brisk direction cleverly consists of staying out of the play's way.