The remounting of Michael Knowles’ ROOM 314 marks the inaugural production for a new and intimate downtown space, The Bottle Factory Theater. The spare performance area, just about big enough to house the stage and very limited seating, feels very much like being in a hotel room, or at least here, the writer-director’s vision of ROOM 314.

The play is actually five unrelated stories or vignettes depicting adult encounters that all take place in the same hotel room. Less sexual than emotional, the scenes are about types of interactions. We meet a tenuous couple, co-worker adulterers, a long-wed pair, et cetera. Not so much enthusiastic, generally, than just living life, they end up where they are, be it for vacation, a tryst, or something darker.

An interesting idea, employing the setting as the only constant character, the execution of ROOM 314 should have been better. The scene changes are especially awkward, as there are many slammed doors with all of the comings and goings, but the real thorn in this production’s side is the timing. Some scenes are written too long, while others are too short. There are extended silences for no apparent reason, and some glaring repetition.

What can we say about The Bottle Factory Theater and ROOM 314? New space. Good idea. Flawed production.

- Kessa De Santis -

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