'Snakes and Ladders': divorce, foreclosure-style

Poor Adrian is a loser in career, marriage, finances and even board games. He's sloppy, eats like a pig and is belligerent. But he and Evelyn, the wife who recently divorced him, are trapped together in the house they bought in those happier days before the marriage and the real-estate market tanked. Despite pressure from the agent and Evelyn's friend to lower the price, they hold out — almost to the end, but that's the major plot twist, and you won't find it revealed here.

"Snakes and Ladders," by Daniel Tarker, addresses modern-day marriage, social values and real-estate woes in a dark comedy about contemporary life where sex plays a leading role and integrity doesn't count for much. We are reminded that men like their women compliant in the kitchen but like wild animals in the bedroom. Place a few sex toys between the sheets, and look out for the consequences.

Evelyn is no loser, but she has a cleaning fetish that would drive anyone mad. Brittany Cox charmingly portrays both the endearing and irritating qualities of her character. Fox Matthews as Adrian is not as successful. True, he's dispirited, but not until the final scenes does his performance gain any life.

Rounding out the cast are Meghan Deese-Dahl as Evelyn's friend Candice and Jaryl Draper as Scott, the smarmy real-estate agent. Deese-Dahl, with her body-hugging gym wear and saucy attitude, effectively fills the hot-babe role. Scott is an operator. He's got deals; he's got advice; and you can't help thinking he's got self-interest at the heart of it. Draper's performance doesn't quite capture the perfidious soul that lies beneath the tailored suit. But this might well be the director's weakness. Draper has been far better in other productions.

Director Sherry Narens does get credit for working with set designer Kim Rosen to create a clever set on modest resources. Bookcases filled with curios, books and board games remind us of Adrian's failures, even as a kid. And Narens' use of occasional music is witty. Pink Floyd's "Money" is perfect.

Tarker's script offers surprises in the second act. There is justice after all, but, like so much today, it's achieved through questionable means.

Nancy Worssam: nworssam@earthlink.net