Couples behave badly in Rebeck’s ‘Poor Behavior’

Many stories about a get-together or reunion build up to a big, cathartic blow-up. Theresa Rebeck’s new play, Poor Behavior, opens with one. And it’s all downhill from there for the show’s two couples, who were getting ready for a weekend of gourmet muffins and country-house loafing upstate. The reason the getaway goes horribly wrong is simple: One of the four characters, Ian (Brian Avers), is a total sociopath. The Irishman starts off as your run-of-the-mill sort-of-charming rogue, the kind of guy who pretends not to know the difference between being opinionated and being rude. We first see him in the middle of a heated argument with one of his hosts, Ella (Katie Kreisler), hurling insults at her and her countrymen — “You still coo about this idea of American exceptionalism,” Ian says among other niceties, “so yes that makes you a crazy f–king American.” It’s not long before we realize this guy’s not a truth-teller, but a jerk. In a normal world — that is, one where a playwright doesn’t need two hours’ worth of material — Ella and her husband, Peter (Jeff Biehl), would have gotten Ian’s number early enough and forcefully ejected his toxic ass.