Ben
Brantley

October 20, 2015

Like a fleet of shiny subway trains in a utopian metropolis, “gotcha” moments arrive right on schedule in “Ripcord,” David Lindsay-Abaire’s expertly engineered situation comedy about adversarial roommates in a retirement home. You can see each little successive climax of triumph hurtling toward you from a distance, beaming with self-delight, and when it reaches its destination, you laugh contentedly, not because you’re surprised, but because you aren’t. “Ripcord” — which opened on Tuesday night in a Manhattan Theater Club production starring the perfectly cast Marylouise Burke and Holland Taylor as Punch and Judy (or Judy and Judy) cohabitants — is a play about uncomfortable topics that has nonetheless been designed for its audience’s express comfort. Domestic violence and bitter familial estrangement are among the fulcrums of the plot, and the possibility of imminent death for its aged characters hovers throughout. Yet this latest work from Mr. Lindsay-Abaire, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Rabbit Hole,” churns up shadows only to dispel them with punch lines. Or so it feels in this production, which is directed by David Hyde Pierce. The show has the feeling of the homemade Halloween spookhouse that figures in a pivotal scene; it turns what we’re deeply afraid of into a parade of gently tickling diversions.