Judith Light in "All the Ways to Say I Love You" Offers Nothing to Like

"All the Ways to Say I Love You," at the Lucille Lortel Theater is written by their mascot playwright Neil LaBute & stars B'wy & TV veteran Judith Light.  LaBute is a prolific playwright.  He received the Amer Acad of Arts Award in '13.   Some of his plays are brilliant "Reasons to be Pretty" ('08.)  Many more have been disappointing "The Money Shot," ('14.)  "All the Ways to Say I Love You" falls way short of brilliance or merit.  It's a 1 act, 1 character rant that I found irritating.  Light is a Tony & Emmy winning actress & will always be tied to her TV series "Whose the Boss?"  Her acting is usually full throttle which sometimes serves her well.  Here her hysteria & relentless carrying on about her life & lies would have benefited from better writing.  Labute's play is about a high school teacher, Mrs. Johnson.  But it lacks depth & veracity in its sole character.  Instead, Light's soulless portrayal fails to conjure empathy or repugnance despite her admission of an affair with "a 2nd year senior, a good looking boy named Tommy."  Nor are we interested with her professed love for her husband Eric.  Johnson's marriage was stagnant & yet they carried on to conceive a child.  The prognosis for success by their fertility Dr. "were within the realm of possibilities."  The contrivance of Light speaking directly to the audience (or aloud to herself) was forced & ill conceived.  I was not stirred by her sexual awakening for which she was unashamed.  Nor was I convinced she loved her husband or anyone other than herself.  "All the Ways to Say I Love You," had little of value to warrant any regard.  The one answer she gave a student who asked how much does a lie weigh was the only assertion with gravitas.  "A lie weighs 6 lbs 3 oz."