THIS is one intriguing play

THIS

As material goes, it’s something that you’ve probably seen a fair number of times before.

THIS, by Melissa James Gibson, is about two men and two women — now nudging 40 — who have been friends since their days at an ivy-league college.

Tom (Jonathon Young) is a carpenter who snuck into the occasional class while the rest were full-time students. Marrall (Yanna McIntosh), now a jazz singer, became his wife. Jane (Laura Condlln), a published poet, is a recent widow. And their gay friend Alan (Alon Nashman) is blessed with a phenomenal memory and appears on TV to astound audiences with his total recall of conversations. There’s also a “doctor without borders” called Jean-Pierre, a possible date for Jane.

In the second scene of the play, something happens that changes the dynamics of their relationships: It is not too much of a spoiler to reveal that Tom confronts Jane in the hallway outside her apartment, confesses that she has long been “invading his thoughts” and makes rough love to her.

What follows is a witty examination of four lives on the cusp of middle age that are out of joint. New York-based playwright Gibson (she’s the Canadian-born daughter of former B.C. politician Gordon Gibson) has a wonderful ear for stylish, heightened dialogue. Her play, roaming over death and the loss of a loved one, unfaithfulness, parenting and aging, is warm, wise and very human. Not to mention crackling with humour.

Director Matthew Jocelyn’s choice has been to strip the theatre and place the audience on two sides of the action, which flows in and through a large, mostly empty space. The acoustics are awful. The actors sit outside the action, often in the audience itself, which creates unnecessary awkwardness. It feels very loose and at times unfocused.

Still, it’s a fascinating piece of writing from a playwright with, one suspects, a huge future.