A Guide for the Homesick

By: Darryl Reilly

A gay, erotic psychological exploration appears to be the core of playwright Ken Urban’s initially enticing but ultimately unsatisfying drama, A Guide for the Homesick. An entrancing, powerfully suggestive sex scene and two ferocious performances are the play’s chief virtues during its eventful, and heavy 80 minutes.

In 2011, recent Harvard graduate Jeremy who is white and Jewish, is in Amsterdam to wait for a connecting flight back to his hometown of Boston. He has been working in a Ugandan medical facility, political upheavel there has curtailed his residency. With a few hours to spare, he goes into a hotel bar to pass the time over a drink. There he meets and converses with the older, Black and openly gay Teddy. He is a New York City finance executive born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, on vacation and staying at the hotel. They eventually go up to his room for more drinks. There is confusion and conflict as Teddy assumes that they’re going to hookup but Jeremy claims to be straight. However, one thing leads to another, and Jeremy ends up on his back in bed with his legs voluntarily spread.

This sensuous sequence is not the launching pad for a depiction of a burgeoning, interracial gay relationship. After demonstrating strong dialogue and establishing two fascinating characters, Mr. Urban then lamentably hauls out playwrighting techniques for a labored attempt at something more “important.”

We now get periodic flashbacks to present the theme that the characters are linked by involvements with troubled men. We are transported to Uganda where Jeremy counsels and befriends the native, gay Nicholas, who is in a relationship with a married man. Jeremy claims to have an Asian American girlfriend waiting for him in the U.S, but there is an undercurrent to their involvement. Christian-based homophobic rampages there have tragic consequences. Teddy has been on vacation with his subordinate co-worker Eddie, who left a few days ago and hasn’t been heard from since. That is made clear by repeated phone calls to Teddy from Eddie’s worried fiancé in the U.S. We learn that Eddie has mental health issues and is on medication, and that his running out may be due to Teddy’s attraction to him. Though potentially compelling on their own, these added threads conjoined with what we have previously experienced, make for a clunky, synthetic exercise. So, what began as an absorbing psychosexual yarn, devolves into a pretentious puzzlement due to Urban’s choice of focus. Two fearless actors playing these four roles salvage A Guide for the Homesick.

The imposing and athletic McKinley Belcher III with his resonant voice and beaming face is tremendous as Teddy, and the accented Nicholas. Slim, boyish and animated Uly Schlesinger is enchanting as Jeremy, and as the wired-up Eddie. Mr. Belcher and Mr. Schlesinger’s intense emotional and physical rapport are entrancing, particularly when they are stripped down to their underwear during their stylized sexual coupling.

That charged portion is a highlight of Shira Milikowsky’s prodigious direction in concert with fight director J. David Brimme. Ms. Milikowsky achieves momentum and visual variety, while guiding the actors. Scenic designer Lawrence Moten III provides a striking, authentically detailed hotel room. Abigail Hoke-Brady’s lighting design appropriately complements the actions with muted brightness and swirling dimness. Sound designer Daniel Kluge renders crashing effects and moody incidental music with verve. David C. Woolard’s costume design consists of artful, everyday street clothes.

A Guide for the Homesick’s promise descends into disappointment.

A Guide for the Homesick (through February 2, 2025)
DR2, 103 East 15 Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, visit www.aguideforthehomesick.com
Running time: 80 minutes with no intermission