By Marilyn Lester***Teenage love is complicated at the best of times. When it happens during war the stakes are beyond imagining. Such is the setting of This Beautiful Future, playing at the Off-Broadway Cherry Lane Theatre. The relationship of protagonists Otto and Elodie is revealed in fragments of time, the action played out in one set, within four walls, a sparse room in the now empty home of a transported 
Jewish family. By virtue of supertitles, we learn the time and place is 1944 Chartres. Elodie is French and 17. Otto, a German soldier, is 16. They are young, inexperienced and childish in many ways, and it’s within this framework that a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare is played out.
Jewish family. By virtue of supertitles, we learn the time and place is 1944 Chartres. Elodie is French and 17. Otto, a German soldier, is 16. They are young, inexperienced and childish in many ways, and it’s within this framework that a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare is played out.Written by Rita Kalnejais and directed sensitively and astutely by Jack Serio, This Beautiful Future, originally produced in 2017, has had two mountings in the UK and an earlier production this year here in NYC at Theaterlab. Given the shortcomings of Kalnejais’ work, Serio has done an excellent job of bringing what’s best out of it forward. These are moments of exquisite beauty among distractions and idiosyncracies that dilute a worthy core story. Had Kalnejais focused more on her two protagonists, she clearly has the chops that would have built a finer, more realized and important work.
The major distraction of This Beautiful Future is the older couple who shadow the young lovers. Located upstage behind a plexiglass partion, “Austin” (Austin Pendleton) and “Angelina” (Angelina Fiordellisi) mostly sing karaoke—tunes such as “I Can Dream, Can’t I?” Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal), Adele’s “Someone Like You,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” and so on. They also make short statements of regre
t—what each would have done in retrospect. “If I could do it again I would bring meat,” Austin says. “I wouldn’t lose sleep over money. Or being unloveable.” “I’d sleep knowing it all changes by morning,” Angelina declares. “I’d admit love at first sight is real.”
t—what each would have done in retrospect. “If I could do it again I would bring meat,” Austin says. “I wouldn’t lose sleep over money. Or being unloveable.” “I’d sleep knowing it all changes by morning,” Angelina declares. “I’d admit love at first sight is real.”For most of the play, though, these two simply watch from behind the barrier. Both old pros, their acting by expression is magnificent, each communicating emotions such as concern, joy, sympathy, and finally alarm, which motivates them to slide the plexiglass aside and enter the playing area. Now thrust directly into the action of This Beautiful Future, the two briefly act as comforting agents to the young ones whose lives are about to be upended. But who are these two singing onlookers? Older versions of Otto and Elodie? Guardian angels? Spirit guides? Everyman characters? It may be up to the audience to figure out, but no matter what the chosen answer, the presence of these two is ultimately a contrivance that doesn’t add to the narrative.
Otto, played to perfection by Uly Schlesinger, is remarkably expressive in body language and facial expression. His Otto is an idealist. He’s at an age and in a time and circumstance that enables him to enter a state of denial. He can more or less adapt to the horrors of war because he has been conditioned to do so. He believes in “Mr. Hitler.” Otto has been thoroughly brainwashed into the cult of Naziism, believing in the purpose of a “clean world.” Assigned to a firing squad, he justifies the killing. With no access to information other than the Nazi propaganda machine, he believes he’s about to be mobilized to join the Nazi initiative to conquer and enter Britain.
Elodie, naively, or self-protectively, blind to much of the horrors of the war (she believes the Jewish occupants of the house they’re in will soon return) has been surreptitiously listening to the BBC. She knows the German army is in trouble and that an Allied invasion of the Continent is imminent. When she tells Otto this, he finds it hard to believe her. But Elodie doesn’t have a soldier’s concerns. She’s just smitten with Otto; for her, their meeting is about attraction, the chemistry of love. As played by Francesca Carpanini, Elodie is lively and playful—full of hope as embodied by a chicken egg she brings with her to their tryst. She’s rescued the egg from a fox; she tucks the egg into her shoe with down from a pillow, believing it will hatch by morning. One drawback, however, is that Carpanini too often swallowed her words.
Otto and Elodie’s lives are a far cry from the world we live in today. Modern teens have been born into the information age, of the fruits of the internet and social media and streaming platforms. Yet, in Otto and Elodie, humanity is a constant. Their desires 
and dreams are ones shared by lovers and would-be lovers across time. But this is war and at play’s end there are consequences dictated by the Nazi fall from power. The beginning of the end of World War II will now determine the future of each of them. There’s irony in the title, This Beautiful Future. That prediction may or not be the case for Otto and Elodie. There’s a large “what could be” possibility here. But the chick hatches against the odds, and there’s hope in that.
and dreams are ones shared by lovers and would-be lovers across time. But this is war and at play’s end there are consequences dictated by the Nazi fall from power. The beginning of the end of World War II will now determine the future of each of them. There’s irony in the title, This Beautiful Future. That prediction may or not be the case for Otto and Elodie. There’s a large “what could be” possibility here. But the chick hatches against the odds, and there’s hope in that.The creative team for This Beautiful Future includes Frank J. Oliva (scenic design), Stacey Derosier (lighting design), Ricky Reynoso (costume design), Christopher Darbassie (sound design), Lacey Erb (projection designer), all of whose work is to be commended.
This Beautiful Future runs through Sunday, October 30, 2022. The performance schedule is Tuesday through Saturday at 8 PM, with additional performances on Saturdays at 2 PM and Sundays at 3 PM and 7 PM pm. The running time is 75 minutes with no intermission. Tickets can be purchased online at www.thisbeautifulfuture.com.
The Cherry Lane Theatre is located at 38 Commerce Street in Manhattan.
All photos by Emilio Madrid
