Here's my review of The Wooster Group's production of Harold Pinter's *The Room.* As often happens, the funniest line belongs to my hubby.

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The other morning I was checking a discount ticket website and saw that they had tickets for *The Room.*

ME: Sweetie, do we have any plans tonight?

RICHARD: No.

ME: I'm thinking of going to a show.

RICHARD: Hm.

ME: Of course I'm inviting you, but I'm pretty sure you won't be interested.

RICHARD: Try me. What is it.

ME: The Wooster Group. Doing Harold Pinter.

RICHARD: That would be a No piled on top of a No.

This show was custom-made for me - - not only was it two things I love, the Wooster and the Pinter, it was a 7:30 curtain, and it was 50 minutes long. Yes, under an hour! Makes my heart sing. It was at The Performing Garage, a tiny theater in SoHo. The cutest neighborhood in town, the cobblestone streets and old buildings seem so Old New York to me. It was directed by Elizabeth LeCompte, one of the founders of the Wooster Group. It had her signature playfulness - - she respects the source and is inspired by it, but also does whatever wacky thing comes to mind.

The greatest performance in the show was by Kate Valk, an actor I've seen in many Wooster productions. Her delivery of the dialogue is the most thrilling thing about her, she totally nails the Wooster tone: flat but expressive. Suzzy Roche had one of the supporting roles, she was wonderful.

But the most memorable thing about the show as the guy sitting next to me. He was handsome-ish, probably somewhere around 70. The risers for the seats were very steep, so even though the theater was small, it seemed like we were high up and relatively far away. He sat down and said, "Who would believe that there would be a second balcony in this tiny theater on Wooster Street." A funny remark, and I chuckled, but I ordinarily do not like to engage with strangers. You never know who that person is or what they're going to do. He asked me a few questions and I answered him, so as not to be rude. Eventually I kinda got the picture that he was pretty cool, so I decided why the h