A. R. Gurney's "The Fourth Wall" Crumbles and Fails in a Cacophonous Panoply at the A.R.T. Theatres

A. R. Gurney is one of America's most prolific and honored playwright.  Gurney died last year at the age of 87 leaving behind a legacy of plays mainly parodying a WASP lifestyle of privilege and familial acrimony ("The Cocktail Hour" and "The Dining Room").  Gurney is a member of the Amer. Acad. of Arts & Letters and received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Obie's in 2016.  "The Fourth Wall" was originally written in 1991.  Gurney revised his play in 2002 adding political commentary lashing out against President Bush (2001-2009) and his disastrous military invasion into Afghanistan shortly after the terrorist attacks in 2001.  Gurney's brilliance evident in sharp dialogues of his earlier works is MIA throughout this mishmash of theatrical structures that degenerates into a cacophonous calamity.  The one act, 4 character play incorporates adulterous and lascivious relationships but there is no keel mooring the play sending it off course and crashing against obstacles.  Roger enlists the support of Julia to help him convince his wife, Peggy to redesign the layout of their living room .  Peggy has become adamant and aligns the furnishings facing onto a large blank wall.  The metaphor of breaking through barriers and building connections is ridiculously obvious.  This result is a not too subtle missive.  Gurney's self-effacing message is there are 2 types of plays, cliched sexual comedies or transformative dramas with the power to globally resonate.  The playwrights with whom Gurney aspires his legacy be aligned are numerous:  Beckett, Shaw, Ibsen, Williams and Dickens.  Even so, Gurney can't resist shading his literary idols.  Floyd, a college prof. of drama notes "Plays that try to change the world never last."  "The Fourth Wall" tries too hard to be clever in constructing a new paradigm for playwriting.  The incongruent concoction is a discordant drama that fails miserably.