"Talley’s Folly" runs through May 4 at the Broadway Theatre Center.

Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer-Prize-
winning play, "Talley’s Folly" is Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s season closer. It’s a sweet, gentle play about a not-so-young-
anymore couple who reunite after some years of separation. Sally Talley returns to her old homestead in Lebanon, Missouri, and an old suitor, Matt Friedman, tries to re-ignite her former affection for him.

The entire play is one 97-minute conversation between the two of them, a conversation that reveals some intimate disclosures that neither of them had shared before. In the process, we get to know both of them quite well and understand the barriers that have blocked intimacy for each of them. The question is: Will they be able to get past their pasts?

The time frame is the Fourth of July 1944; the setting, the garden on the property of the Talley estate. It is a romantic setting, yet it suggests a certain dilapidation, the remnants of a happier, more prosperous day. Matt is persistent; Sally, resistant. This dynamic dominates the story.

It is a difficult play to do because there is no real plot, no action to speak of - just a sharing of histories, and the last pursuit of love on Matt’s part. Both parties have to engage us, so we begin to care about their future. Jonathan West and Laura Gray are able to achieve that. Matt is soft-spoken, charming and determined. Sally is very defensive, but it is obvious that she is quite unhappy and, albeit subconsciously, leaving her door open a crack.

Love stories always interest us because everyone has one or more of them in their own histories. This one is quite understated, so it doesn’t employ the usual whirlwind sexual encounters so often characteristic of modern dramas. And this is part of its subtlety and its charm.

I had seen this play many years ago and had little memory of it, so it was a pleasant surprise to revisit it. Certainly part of the pleasure was the presence of two actors I haven’t seen for a while and have missed. Both Gray and West bring nuance and depth to any role they play. This was the case again.

So if you’re looking for excitement, this isn’t the show for you, but if you want a touch of realism and the simple complexity of love, you’ll enjoy this one. "Talley’s Folly" runs through May 4 at the Broadway Theatre Center. Set designer, R. H. Graham; director, C. Michael Wright. Call (414) 291-7800 for times and tickets.