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The Dirty Talk
"In Michael Puzzo's comedy The Dirty Talk, Lino and Mitch, an outrageously mismatched pair of strangers, find themselves stranded in a hunting cabin--in the mountains of New Jersey--during a ferocious storm. Unable to leave (the phone's dead, the car's engine is flooded--its windshield wipers are gone) we gradually find out these men aren't exactly here by mere happenstance. During their tumultuous day together, the two explore what defines being a man, the value of emotional intimacy, the lies we tell each other and most devastatingly the lies we tell ourselves."--P. [4] of cover.
- GenresPlays
72 pages, Paperback
First published May 30, 2007
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 23, 2022
Michael Puzzo's very funny and unexpectedly moving comedy The Dirty Talk tells an unlikely tale about two unusual but ultimately very likely men--and it does so with such refreshing candor, wit, and intelligence that we are at once disarmed and entirely engaged by it. It takes place in a cabin (in "the mountains of New Jersey"). It begins with a man, who we will eventually learn is named Lino, wandering into said cabin; tentatively, he gets the lay of the land: a big oversized bed in the center, outfitted with a deerskin blanket; a small TV and a laptop computer; a box of condoms and a copy of Playboy; and lots and lots of cardboard boxes, most of them labeled "GLASS."
Outside it is pouring down rain. Lino settles himself on the bed, and another man, Mitch, storms in. He is soaking wet, and he is very angry with his umbrella. Mitch and Lino, it develops quickly, are stranded here, at least for a while. The rain is pounding; the phone is dead ("This is like a B horror movie," Mitch observes); the car's engine is flooded and its windshield wipers are gone (we'll find out how that happened later on). And the men are, at the moment, clearly antagonists--though the exact reasons for why they've ended up here together and what precisely went awry in their meeting are not at all evident to us, not yet. Much of the fun of The Dirty Talk is finding all of this out. What I will tell you is that the sexual tension you think you're aware of is absolutely there; and the direction of Puzzo's remarkable narrative--a little bit modern-day tall tale, a little bit urban legend--continually shifts with the balance of power in this remote cabin, tantalizingly and compellingly. Finally, it's a story of what it means to become a man: of self-acceptance, compassion, understanding, and authentic courage. The tale takes in ex-wives, fathers, deer hunting, spelling, and--especially--an unforgettable night in an Internet chat room. Puzzo's writing is dark, hilarious, and frequently, as the play's title suggests, dirty. It's also joltingly honest.
Outside it is pouring down rain. Lino settles himself on the bed, and another man, Mitch, storms in. He is soaking wet, and he is very angry with his umbrella. Mitch and Lino, it develops quickly, are stranded here, at least for a while. The rain is pounding; the phone is dead ("This is like a B horror movie," Mitch observes); the car's engine is flooded and its windshield wipers are gone (we'll find out how that happened later on). And the men are, at the moment, clearly antagonists--though the exact reasons for why they've ended up here together and what precisely went awry in their meeting are not at all evident to us, not yet. Much of the fun of The Dirty Talk is finding all of this out. What I will tell you is that the sexual tension you think you're aware of is absolutely there; and the direction of Puzzo's remarkable narrative--a little bit modern-day tall tale, a little bit urban legend--continually shifts with the balance of power in this remote cabin, tantalizingly and compellingly. Finally, it's a story of what it means to become a man: of self-acceptance, compassion, understanding, and authentic courage. The tale takes in ex-wives, fathers, deer hunting, spelling, and--especially--an unforgettable night in an Internet chat room. Puzzo's writing is dark, hilarious, and frequently, as the play's title suggests, dirty. It's also joltingly honest.
Displaying 1 of 1 review