A sexual affair between Hugh Jackman as a married middle aged professor and Ella Beatty as his 19-year-old student? On its surface, “Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes” tells a familiar story with an overblown title and an underwritten female character. The two-hander by Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch felt an odd choice for a first production by Together., the new theater company by Jackman and Sonia Friedman, given that their aim, according to the announcement in March, is for audiences to “experience theater in a fresh and engaging way” and for company members to “experiment, explore, and take risks.”  It’s hard to argue that the play, which has been in several productions since its debut in Toronto five years ago, is especially fresh, or that it’s wildly experimental. There is some unusual writing, a few unexpected moments, and one metatheatrical twist that I won’t spoil, but otherwise the story was predictable enough that I felt almost forced to try to find some hidden nuance, thinking: There’s got to be more to this. 

And yet, I’m glad to have seen it. A main reason is Jackman’s performance in the relatively intimate space of the Minetta Lane Theater; he was indeed engaging. And I did find some nuance.

Jackman portrays Jon Macklem, an acclaimed novelist and college lecturer who has recently separated from his third wife. He is having trouble finishing his novel about lumberjacks (we don’t learn much else about it, except it apparently has a lot of sex scenes in it.). He’s distracted from work by the unbidden mental image of a young woman in a red coat.

 And then, he runs into the woman in that coat – Annie, who is his student, an admirer of his writing (she herself wants to be a writer), and his next-door neighbor.

After a series of mostly unsurprising scenes unfold with minimal sets and props — she runs into him while he mows his lawn; he invites her home to give her a bandage, because she was locked out of her apartment and tried to climb in her window — they eventually start having sex.

Jon narrates the story, which is told from his point of view. What’s unusual about the narration is that he talks about himself in the third person: “…He had to sober up and stop this, he had to stop it and send her home…” 

We hear a lot from him about his guilt and worry – that the college will fire him if it finds out — and his lust. We don’t hear much of anything from Annie.  She seems a very young 19.  When he gets a hotel room for them once, because he feels it too risky to keep on meeting her in his house, she barely responds to his physical overtures.  He asks her what’s wrong. She shrugs. “I was uh…talking to my mom. Telling her about. I don’t know. College…”

Jon is consistently the center of attention; Jackman is very good at making his character charming, charismatic. Ella Beatty seems the exact opposite; she doesn’t seem to inhabit her character fully. 

It was only in the last few minutes – and, really, only after the show ended — that it sank in how much of what Jon does is despicable, and how much of what happens to Annie falls short of consensual. It seems plausible to me that playwright Hannah Moscovitch and director Ian Rickson deliberately set out to make Annie dull – the opposite of a seductress or a predator (predatress?) in the David Mamet mold — and even worked to emphasize the 30-year difference in the actors’ ages, achieving an uncomfortable father-daughter vibe.

Viewed this way, “Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes” is an effort to subvert the typical  interpretation (by men of the middle classes?) of “May/December romances.” This subtly #MeToo story is so explicitly from the man’s point of view that it demolishes that point of view.  

Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes
Audible’s Minette Lane Theater through June 18
In repertory starting May 10 with The Creditors
Running time: 85 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: $86 – $299
HOWEVER: 25 percent of the tickets will be available day-of for $35
Written by Hannah Moscovitch
Directed by Ian  Rickson
Scenic design by Brett J Banakis and Christine Jones, costume design by Asta Bennie Hostetter,lighting design by Isabella Byrd, sound design by Mikaal Sulaiman, intimacy coordinator Ann James
Cast: Ella Beatty and Hugh Jackman
Photos by Emilio Madrid