Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Danny Brown’s AS TIME GOES BY excavates casual hookup culture amongst urban gays

• By drediman
• March 22, 2025
• No Comments

This week, I had the chance to catch up with Out of the Box Theatrics’ Off-Broadway production of As Time Goes By by Danny Brown. A good way to characterize the new work would be to describe it as a sort of gay version of Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. The similarities begin almost immediately — both are two-character plays that commence with a couple having sex in a New York apartment, the lights coming up on them ecstatically climaxing in bed. But instead of a middle-aged working class straight couple giving love and romance a shot, Brown’s play depicts two skittish urban gays hesitantly getting to know each other after a Grindr hookup when a snow storm unexpectedly strands one of them.

Also like McNally’s classic two-hander, Brown gives his dialogue a dance-like rhythm that pulls us easily into the world of the play. Interestingly, As Time Goes — which is performed completely in real time — is at its most effective during more casual and mundane moments that subtly shed light on their respective personalities and subtle shifts in mood. But when the piece turns its attention to weightier topics and themes (e.g., discussions surrounding unrequited love, drawn out feelings about HIV), often times the emotional response elicited from the two characters are unconvincing, as if forcing drama into a situation that doesn’t call for it. A part of me thinks that the play would have been more persuasive simply left as a commentary on the transactional nature of sex and the pervasiveness of loneliness for gay men in the big city.

That being said, director Noah Eisenberg’s production can’t be faulted. His staging smartly attempts to keep things as naturalistic as possible (kudos particularly to the convincing New York studio set by Baron E. Pugh), even when Brown’s writing occasionally fights against it. Additionally, the acting is very good. Ephraim Birney as the “host” does a compelling job of portraying the older and more anal retentive of the two characters. As the younger and more carefree of the two, Joel Meyers is adorably in touch with his feelings. Although I have some reservations about the play, there’s obvious chemistry between them — you can tell why they ended up in bed with each other — making for a not unpleasant time at the theater.

SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED

AS TIME GOES BY
Off-Broadway, Play
Out of the Box Theatrics in association with Ice Berg Productions
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through March 30