THEATER
• King of Shadows
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Oh What War
• Three Changes
• 4 Adults Only
FILM
• The New York International Independent Film and Video Festival
• Virtual JFK: Vietnam if Kennedy Had Lived
Q&A
• 'Grey' Area
A health expert turned filmmaker makes his East Coast premiere
CULTURE VULTURE
• Culture Vulture

Two Destinies
Written by Guile Branco
Directed by Emanuelle Villorini
14th Street Y
344 East 14th Street
212-352-3101

Review by Sean Michael O’Donnell

It is commendable when an artist is as passionately dedicated to his craft as playwright/actor Guile Branco. In his new play Two Destinies, now receiving its US premiere at the 14th Street Y after a lengthy run in his native Brazil, Branco attempts to explore the intertwined relationship between two men on a park bench. Unfortunately, this commendable attempt is littered with problems, which begin with Branco’s script. World War II vet Robert (Robert Haufrect) and young Roberto (Guile Branco) meet on a bench in Central Park in the summer of 1967. Robert is reading quietly and enjoying the solitude, when Roberto interrupts, desperate to tell him a seemingly pointless story. Robert wants to leave; Roberto won’t let him.

Fancy meeting you here: Guile Branco and Robert Haufrect share a Central Park bench in Guile Branco's Albee-esque Two Destinies. At the 14th St. Y.

A plot does eventually unfold in Two Destinies, when the characters begin to reveal the secrets and past battles that connect them. Branco borrows heavily from Edward Albee's The Zoo Story, which also follows the conversation of two men on a Central Park bench. Here, the playwright ambitiously aims for Albee-like heights, but his dialogue rings hollow and his situations are contrived. When Roberto is revealed to be Robert’s son (conceived during a World War II liaison in Italy), the play becomes wildly uneven and mired in psychotic flashbacks, extraneous singing and a nonsensical Vietnam subplot.

Emanuelle Villorini’s awkward staging only serves to further highlight the script’s shortcomings. She leaves the actors clumsily fumbling about the stage, standing and sitting arbitrarily and punctuating important speeches by superfluous downstage crosses. Attempts at physical humor fall flat. Branco substitutes mania for anxiousness in the nervous Roberto. He fails to connect with the dialogue or character. Subsequently, Roberto's awkward physicality becomes a distraction. Robert Haufrecht makes a valiant attempt as the paternal Robert but seems unsure if he’s in a comedy or a drama. As Roberto’s dead mother Susanna, Marci Occhino fares best, giving a quietly tender performance. Still, Two Destinies comes up short, proving passion and dedication are no compensation for unfocused storytelling and weak execution.