Uly Schlesinger and McKinley Belcher III in A Guide for the Homesick. Featured photo by Russ Rowland.
A vacation to Amsterdam gone horribly wrong. A man facing homophobic persecution in Uganda. A soul-baring chance encounter between two Americans abroad. These narratives may sound disparate, but they come together in Ken Urban’s A Guide for the Homesick, now playing Off-Broadway at the DR2 Theatre.
A Guide for the Homesick centers on Teddy (McKinley Belcher III, Death of a Salesman) and Jeremy (Uly Schlesinger), strangers who meet at a hotel bar in Amsterdam and keep the party going in Teddy’s hotel room. As they get to know each other over shotgunned beers, the two discover the common trait that drew them to each other (beyond an undercurrent of sexual tension): a mutual sense of guilt.
Jeremy tells Teddy about Nicholas, a Ugandan man he befriended while working as a volunteer nurse, and Teddy recounts to Jeremy about Ed, a coworker who’s gone missing after traveling with him on vacation — and yes, the names are tricky to keep track of while watching.
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Their complex backstories come to life on stage, with the actors seamlessly embodying the men from each others’ past. Both Schlesinger and Belcher deftly switch between their double-duty roles at the drop of a hat, an impressive display of their acting chops, and all three duos they portray have palpable yet distinct chemistry. Belcher’s take on the soft-spoken Nicholas is especially charming, with an understated confidence and strength that contrasts his brash performance as Teddy.
A Guide for the Homesick tackles an array of compelling topics: LGBTQ+ rights in Uganda, unrequited love, mental health, the pros and cons of coming out, and more. Any of its many plot threads could warrant a full-length script. But it’s a lot to pack into a single 80-minute show, and unfortunately, the most interesting storylines are sometimes sidelined. I’d happily watch a whole play solely following Jeremy and Nicholas in Uganda, where the stakes are highest and the most revelatory conversations occur — a flashback where Nicholas confides in Jeremy about his philosophy on love and his satisfaction with living a closeted life stands out as among the show’s most engaging.
Urban’s script is at times contrived: Jeremy attempts to leave Teddy’s room repeatedly in the play’s first section, each time convinced to stay by further-fetched arguments despite Teddy’s clear habit of dishonesty. (At times, it feels like watching a frustrating horror movie, screaming at the final girl not to go toward the ominous noises in the basement.) The characters tend to interrupt lighthearted conversations with deeply personal questions or emotional outbursts, things that need to be said to further the narrative but don’t quite match the realistic tone of the dialogue. Still, if audiences can suspend their disbelief through the less logical moments, the plot gets stronger as all three storylines build to their cacophonous, inevitably tragic conclusions.
Where some of the play’s elements may be divisive, A Guide for the Homesick‘s technical design is indisputably stellar. The hotel room set by Lawrence Moten is thorough in its realism — until it isn’t, to fabulous effect — and the droning sounds of planes arriving and departing at the nearby airport, designed by Daniel Kluger, amplify the story’s building anxiety. Abigail Hoke-Brady’s beautiful and practical lighting design keeps the play’s rapidly switching settings from ever becoming confusing with its crisp precision. (Props to stage manager Tala Munstermans for keeping it all running smoothly.)
Despite any qualms, A Guide for the Homesick ultimately has more to love than to nitpick. At its core, this is a fascinating story about how to handle love that’s turned into shame: Avoid it by never picking up the phone call that could confirm your worst fears? Distract yourself from it by tumbling into the arms of a stranger? Or face it, even in a small way, by being brutally honest about what you’ve done? A Guide for the Homesick invites us to find out. ♦
A Guide for the Homesick runs through January 12 Off-Broadway at the DR2 Theatre. Tickets are available here.
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