The Mind as Safe Prison in “The Private Lives of Imaginary Friends”

Things have been bad for 36-year-old Rory. He’s still living with his parents, he hasn’t had a job in more than a decade (never mind a girlfriend), and he “can’t shake the sensation that this is…me, fully realized.” But the reappearance of imaginary childhood friend Murphy provides the opportunity to retreat to a better world, one hermetically sealed from all those external expectations he can’t quite understand, let alone even begin to meet.

At least that’s how it seems at the beginning of The Private Lives of Imaginary Friends, the most recent work by local playwright Ryan McClary. But you’ve heard the one about things not always being what they seem?

Understanding what’s what in the Imaginary Friends universe turns on the question of what’s wrong with Rory (Thomas Amerman) — or more accurately, what conditions pertain not only to Rory but also to Murphy (Robert Young) and next-door neighbor Dana (Emily Formentini) and her imaginary friend Siohban (Maribella Magna), all four of whom can see and interact with each other.

The answer to those questions isn’t given until deep in Act 2, and the journey to that point is more or less pure comedy, much of which hinges on Rory, Murphy, and Siohban’s efforts to get Dana, a vituperative 35-year-old who’s not making a much better go of the real world than Rory is, to join in their reindeer games.

The humor here is big on silly, and the cast is required to do some heavy lifting to make it play. Fortunately, all four castmembers are buff enough for the hoisting. Even within exclusively comedic scenes, the tonal shifts come fast and furious, with the cast adeptly negotiating each twist and turn. An especial highlight is shortly before intermission, with Murphy directing an imaginary film that casts Dana in a role that helps her access her imaginary side. Young in particular is hilarious here.

Although the yuks sometimes wear thin in Act 2 (an imaginary talk show is a bit slow and doesn’t cover new ground), when the reality of the situation begins to seep through, we find ourselves in the middle of a play that has traded in the silly for the substantive, providing us with an emotional center and a deeper insight into what Act 1’s imaginary rigamarole was all about.

As they so often do, through the practical magic of carpentry the Garage has transformed their small space into a completely ad hoc configuration. Unlike most black box theaters, the Garage is willing to sacrifice square footage in service of aesthetic considerations — one of the real treats about seeing a show here. Because Young and Amerman are central to set-building &c. at the Garage, one can only marvel at their achieving this success while simultaneously holding down roles in a play that rarely lets them offstage.

All of us inhabit not just the world of the mind, but the world of a particular mind: our own, unique and private to each of us. For a spectrum of reasons, some find moving through the external world, whose rules and signals can be mysteriously incongruous with our private logic, too treacherous to attempt. The Private Lives of Imaginary Friends gives us a view of/from such a place, along with a glimmer of hope that sometimes, with a little help from our friends, progress can be made, step by tentative step.

The Private Lives of Imaginary Friends at the Garage Theatre
Times: Thursday–Saturday 8:00 p.m.
The show runs through April 9
Cost: $18–$25 (Thursdays 2-for-1); closing night w/afterparty: $30
Details: thegaragetheatre.org
Venue: The Garage Theatre, 251 E. 7th St., Long Beach

The Zoom version of The Private Lies o Imaginary Friends.