Author: Melissa Leilani Larson
Title: Third Wheel: Peculiar Stories of Mormon Women in Love
BCC Press, 2018. 140 pages. Two play scripts.
Reviewed by Rebecca Bateman, January 8, 2018
I grew up doing community theater. I wouldn’t say that makes me an expert on what is quality play-writing and what is not, but I’ve certainly seen plenty of contrived, formulaic, and inane scripting. I’m picky about what I’ll qualify as a decent play, so hearing about this set of Mormon plays made me roll my eyes a little and I prepared for cliché, Jack Weyland-esque dialogue brought to the stage.
But this was incredible.
Larson’s characters are beautifully human, relatable, complex, recognizable. Her writing is clean, natural, and intelligent. She has taken two groups of very real Mormon families and thrown them into (not so far-fetched) situations that create a wonderful TENSION. She strikes right at the core of the “Yes, but what if?” question that any self-aware, compassionate believer must deal with if they are to pass out of the black and white/good and evil way of thinking. The religious angle is there, yes, and quite important to the motivations of the characters, but it’s the psychology that nips at your heart and mind. You could jump into the shoes of any of these characters and feel for the conflict that they must deal with and wonder where you would land.
Larson’s plays are a perfectly matched set. She has pulled open the curtains on the next door neighbor… and the one up the street… and let us peer inside. Or perhaps our own blinds are raised, our own vulnerability revealed to the neighbors.