In six brief scenelets, the play offers its spoofish Governing Rules for Marriage: maxim-like principles (e.g., "avoid board games") that function as little launching pads for characterizing the relationship between the play's comic and cartoonish couple, James (Keith Anderson) and Louise (Stacey Bean). We see the pair on their wedding night, and then on five subsequent, supposedly significant wedding anniversaries during the course of their 50-year marriage.
James and Louise get married after knowing each other for one week, so with the play's long first scene, we learn details about them as they do. But each scene follows the same arc: The couple behaves lovingly, then a spat or misunderstanding comes up that is further complicated by Louise's persistent and somewhat female-stereotypical behavior, leading to a short-lived, affectionate resolution.
James and Louise are less unique individuals than they are prototypes for what Lathrop sees in her comedic worldview as the basic components of the male and female union: a rational but possibly philandering man, and an irrational and slightly hysterical woman. The joke of the play is that in marriage, you "fight endlessly about everything forever," just like in any number of those 1960s and 1970s comedies that usually starred Jack Lemmon.
But Lathrop's quick 'n' funny one-liners are the strength of this piece. Though the actors don't have much opportunity to exercise depth, Anderson handles the bewildered, exasperated husband character with style and aplomb--he's a treat to watch. Bean is good with the rapid-fire dialogue, but slightly shrill, and due to the constraints of the play, both actors are continually at the same intense, frantic pitch, with little variation or relief. Though it's not for everyone, The Six Basic Rules is energetic, goofy entertainment.
