The Vertical Hour

New Review

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Don't go to The Vertical Hour expecting to sit back and be entertained. It's filled with too many words and ideas for that to happen, with the action consisting of little more than a character pouring wine or fetching coffee. It is essentially a battle of wits and ideologies between Nadia (Carmen Grant), a political science professor at Yale and former war correspondent who supports the war in Iraq, and Oliver (Andrew Gillies) the estranged father of Nadia's boyfriend Philip (Seann Gallagher), who doesn't. There are enough interesting personal revelations from the sparring pair---like the fact that Nadia is attracted to Philip mainly because he isn't her intellectual equal---to make the play about more than politics. With less skillful actors, the play would be a bore, but this cast makes it a pleasurable, if demanding, experience.Neptune Fountain Theatre, 1593 Argyle, $22-$32, 429-7070