Significant Other

by Joshua Harmon

Jordan is single, and finding Mr. Right is much easier said than done. While surrounding himself with his close group of girlfriends it comes to pass that the only thing harder than looking for love is supporting the loved ones around you. From the critically acclaimed writer who brought you Bad Jews.

Genres: Plays, LGBT, Theatre, Drama, Gay, Queer

90 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Joshua Harmon's play Bad Jews received its world premiere at Roundabout Underground and was the first production to transfer to the Roundabout's Laura Pels Theatre (Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Award nominations, Best Play). It has since become the third most-produced play in the United States this season and transferred to London’s West End after sell-out runs at Theatre Royal Bath and the St. James Theatre. His newest play Significant Other opened at Roundabout this summer. His work has been produced and developed by Manhattan Theatre Club, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Hangar Theatre, Ars Nova, and Actor's Express, where he was the 2010-2011 National New Play Network Playwright-in-Residence. He has received fellowships from MacDowell, Atlantic Center for the Arts, SPACE at Ryder Farm, and the Eudora Welty Foundation. Joshua is a recent graduate of Juilliard and at work on commissions for Roundabout Theatre Company and Lincoln Center Theater.

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harmon writes relatable, funny/sad characters, but they aren't always terribly 'likeable'. This got raves reviews Off-Broadway, but didn't fare so well when it made a 6-week transfer to the Great White Way. I have a bootleg copy of that I will watch and see if it improves to a 5 star play once I've seen it performed.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/th...

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...

[ariella · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow, she’s LITERALLY me!

[Nate Stauffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning depiction of the struggles faced by many urban gay milennials. Nauseatingly relatable, delicately heartbreaking, but overall exquisite.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favorite play from last season. Would love to direct it!

[val · Rating 3 out of 5]

kinda felt the main protagonist ngl

[leah hohauser · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first scene I ever directed was from here, so this has a special place in my heart. Presses into the ache of loneliness and feeling out of place so deeply that I was in tears 5 pages in and a mess 30 minutes later when I finished it.
Jordan is a lovable and relatable, flawed lead. A word I keep returning to is “swollen:” the play is swollen with longing, desperate for connection, tender to the touch.

[Skyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite plays. I saw it two years ago and have been thinking about it so much that I bought it recently to reread. Just because something is relatable doesn't make it good, but there is just something about seeing/hearing your inner thoughts be said aloud in such poignant ways. I want to give this to everybody to read as if it's a manual.

[Liana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this play. I so badly want to see it staged. A very moving story about something many 20/30-somethings can relate to. It got very dusty in my living room at the end. Absolutely rooting for Jordan and love by the time I closed the book

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely enjoyable and examines some difficult dating cultural situations (my favorite) but our main character does seem a bit whiny but hopefully a good actor can make him more likeable. I sped read this one so I definitely would need to reread.

[Nick Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this play. Two reasons it's not a five star rating.
1. Some word usage that is no longer acceptable to say. Easy fix though.
2. Hits way too close to home. Being a late 20/early 30-something being stuck single while everyone else around you is getting married and such....too real!!

I hope I get to be in this show one day.

[Ligia · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're into the show Friends, this play is for you.
Unfortunately, I hate Friends and this play was hard to get through. Seeing it performed was much better and I kinda started to like it by the end of the run.

[John Perine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starting the year off right by rereading my favorite play. The ending hit me particularly hard this time.

[Caleb Hoyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this play during its Broadway run and really loved it, although it was uncomfortably relatable (I was then a 31-year-old who’d never been told “I love you”). It was wonderful to read the script, now as a 32-year-old. Much of the comedy understandably doesn’t translate as well on the page, nor should it, since it’s meant to be performed and not read. But much of the drama became even clearer given time to read it, particularly the scenes between Jordan and Helene. This play tells a small story, and maybe we can’t be expected to sympathize with Jordan too much simply for being single, but it’s such a universal topic, and is there anything more significant to each of us than finding someone to share our lives with?

[Kaeli · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I would enjoy this play more, however with the cast of characters it was difficult to. I think a lot of the monologues would be more endearing if they were preformed live instead of read. But off of the page it is difficult for me to connect with any of the character. I was struck with their conversations about weight and how casually cruel they all seemed to be. It was distracting and ultimately kept from embracing the best parts of those people. It was also unclear from reading it, until I was at the second wedding just how much time was passing. Ultimately this felt like a piece that would be better seen than read where those harsh things on the page ( ex: stalking, comments about weight, etc. ) are softened by the performance.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew almost nothing about this play except Gideon Glick once performed in it to some acclaim, which was more than enough to draw me to it. It's devastating. I did not expect it to be devastating, even as I was reading it, but the ending hit me hard. I don't quite see myself in Jordan, but I also don't not see a future version of myself in Jordan. It's very relatable, and I think seeing it might be heartbreaking. The loneliness that builds throughout the play is intense, and never more so than when his friends become engaged in their own conversations, their words lapping over each other. It's notable that there's great humor, though, too. I did laugh out loud at one point, though I don't remember over what. It's a good one. I'm glad I finally procured it.

[Daniel Preciado · Rating 3 out of 5]

My issue is not that the main character is incredibly unlikable, or at least not only that. I wouldn't have minded how annoying he is if anything - and I do mean ANYTHING - happened in this play. I don't believe in writing only likable leads, but I do believe in writing characters that do things other than complain. And that is all that this character does! It was impossible for me to create an emotional bond with him. Make him unlikable but make him do something, make something happen in the story other than him looking at his text messages. No more passive characters, please!

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wendy Wasserstein influence is strong with this one, and it's a worthy successor. Funny, honest, clearly told—it's navel-gaze-y and lonely and insecure and neurotic (and seems handwritten for the lily white Jewish New York gays like me)—but it doesn't fully let its protagonist off the hook for his loneliness and that's good. I think it's more cathartic than helpful? But its portrayal of the loneliness of friends finding partners is very real.

[Himmi Gorantla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Significant Other is a play about a 20 something adult navigating love, life, and friendship. The play explores what it's like to feel stuck while everyone else you know continues to progress on to each stage of life, leaving you behind and alone. I thought the book was a little too relatable and therefore somewhat depressing. But it was a quick read and had some good funny moments throughout. 3/5.

[Charlie Herndon]

Hey, I'm a sucker for a good HBO's Girls-esque “life in your twenties in the big city is actually sad really let’s not ignore that reality” story. Showcasing the risks of gays stacking themselves against the impenetrable obelisks of heteronormativity. I love this type of play, but it's too cute and a half to be something I’d write. I am writing "being in ur 20s post recession post ongoing collapse climate crisis" comedy.

[Lachlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite detail about this beautiful play is the fact that it takes what is classically the gay best-friend/ gay comic relief and puts him into the spotlight through the character of Jordan Berman. While the play is a comedy, it is in its final moments that it truly punches you in the heart. You should read this, and your friend should read this, and your dogs sisters owner should read this.

[amine~]

this was extremely extremely good and will probably be one of my fave plays ever but at one point there is a brief mention of israel and a birth-right trip and so idk what the stance of the author is on the genocide of palestine and zionism... so yeah i won't rate it but very touching play that specifically reaches me very much

[David Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. I was lucky enough to see this during its too short run on Broadway. It reads as well as it performed. Harmon perfectly captures that time in young adulthood when it seems as if everyone is coupling up and you are left alone. Painful and perfect.

[Em · Rating 1 out of 5]

All of the characters seemed so selfish and uncaring that none of them were likeable at all to me.
That, paired with the constant fat-shaming and large praise of stopping eating to get skinny, AND the main character /stalking/ the guy he had a crush on??
Yeah. No.

[Squeric]

Funny, with irreverence that threatens to spoil, and very conventional, sitcom-y stakes (i.e. every woman wants a husband right!). I enjoyed the continuous structure and the light emotional stakes are definitely earned.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd give this a 4.25-4.5 if there were partial stars. I saw this performed (online, not in a theater) so I had those particular performances in my head as I read. The end is heartbreaking to me. The writing is very easy to relate to, in my opinion. It's realistic and contemporary.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw the Off-Broadway and then the Broadway productions and loved the play. It felt like someone had written my 20s.

The play reads a little differently, but I think it’s in a good way. I cringed a lot as I read, but I think it’s because I identify with Jordan even when he’s a complete asshole.

[Brian G. Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

so so so so good. a beautiful, if painful and complicated, story that captures the joy and pain of .. being a queer man? a queer person with straight friends? a single 20-something? I saw it years ago on Broadway and reading it now I thought "this is still really effing good."

[Kristen Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, Irreverent, great main character.

[Cody Roecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm praying we get to do this at the conservatory next year because this play is absolutely phenomenal

[james · Rating 4 out of 5]

i’ve been wanting to read/see this play for a while and i was not disappointed. a beautiful story that is a bit too relatable.