STAGE REVIEW : Two-Member Cast Has Its Limits in ‘Dating Ourselves’

Rachel Winfree and Michael Caldwell do more than date themselves in “Dating Ourselves,” in the back space at Theatre/Theater.

They hog the show, which they’ve written and perform, giving us half a century’s worth of three generations of one family in 20 bittersweet scenes. That’s Mom, Pop, daughter Valerie, sons Bill and James and James’ first wife, Diane, all played by Winfree and Caldwell. Caldwell and Winfree.

It’s an ambitious undertaking but a modest exercise, with each brief episode focusing lightly on some salient aspect of a relationship.

From the moment He and She meet right after World War II, we know that all he wants is to settle down and all she wants is to find adventure.

Someone’s gotta give.

Both do, of course, as from 1945 to 1992, we watch this couple marry, squabble over when to celebrate Christmas, when to take a vacation and how to rear three kids. Soon we’re watching son James shave for the first time, date for the first time, marry for the first time, even become a father.

We also watch Valerie grow into a harsh Type-A executive, and Bill grow up sweet and gay and die.

What distinguishes the show is not so much the situations or the writing (although Caldwell and Winfree know the value of a pointed word), but the way these actors take on the parade of characters--sometimes more than one in a single scene. Thanksgiving, 1992, for instance, finds Mom and James in the kitchen, then James and Valerie and finally Valerie and kid brother Bill.

It’s a clever application of the two-actor equation.

Under Bill Molloy’s spare direction, a hat, a jacket or a different hairstyle differentiates character (Melanie Peters assembled the costumes and should re-examine what U.S. sailors wore in 1945), but the acting talent helps.

Caldwell reminds one of a young James Stewart. His mouth hardens for the bitter James, softens for Bill, grimaces for their recalcitrant father. Winfree’s warm, pudgy looks, dancing eyes and elfin smile light up the stage.

But she’s a skilled comedian who can also freeze the heart when her lips tighten and her eyes narrow as the parched, pinched Valerie.

Devin Meadows is credited with sets and lights, though there are no sets. Just chairs and a table. Simplicity is the name of this game.

Caldwell and Winfree make “Dating Ourselves” an accurate, often amusing saunter through the second half of the 20th Century with this fallible family, but don’t escape the format’s limitations. Two people alone on stage with amiable material can only go so far.