When Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus came out in 1993 and spent 121 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, it went from a self-help book for the relationship-challenged to an accepted pop psychology phenomenon. Though many of the claims in the book have been discredited, challenged and called “problematic” for over twenty years now, the book has sold over 50 million copies, making it the highest selling nonfiction work, ever. The title has now become part of our common language on gender differences – we just can’t along because well we’re from different planets.
There’s a natural progression from the book to the show now playing at New World Stages. Ably written by Eric Coble and neatly directed by Mindy Cooper Grenke, it’s a polished show, performed with aplomb by Peter Story, who convinces an audience of mostly out-of-towners that they are participating in a distinctly New York experience. Story illustrates the principles laid out in the book by author John Gray by using stories from his own marriage.
If you’re not familiar with the book, here are some of the tenets Story explores in the one-man show:
I can’t say that I didn’t laugh at all during the show or relate to any of it, but when Story described his wife as doing chores and him coming back from work late and not appreciating her, I was suddenly transported from the familiarity of the rough edges of every relationship to a time when it was acceptable to say, "Oh, you know. Women, they’re just so emotional.” The fact that much of the audience was enjoying old tropes like “ladies don’t need logic for an argument” or “every woman loves the opera” reminded me that there’s still a glass ceiling.
But as I sat in the audience with a bright, young woman, as I watched her cringe at the same lines I did, when we shared with each other at intermission “this is kinda…sexist,” actually saying the words out loud, I realized, we’re just not the audience for this kind of show.
