Review: “An Exciting, Humorous, and Intense Look at Relationships and Growth!” (Copy)

Sam meet's Leo's new friend, Chloe, for the first time. Photo Credit Matthew Tippins Left to right Casey Sacco, Matthew Busch and Sofia Palmero

By Tom Hantzarides for GET OUT! South Florida
March 8, 2023

When “I Wanna F#%*ng Tear You Apart” opens, we’re introduced to Sam and Leo in their shared apartment. Leo is a (very) gay man who whines and exaggerates his gayness to the point where it probably satisfied all those who have incorrect stereotypes of gay men. Sam is, as she points out, a “fat girl” and the two misfits seem to enjoy the labels. Two against the world.

Matthew Busch & Sofia Palmero play the gay boy/best girl friend roles in I Wanna F#%*ing Tear You Apart. (Photo by Matthew Tippins)

The relationship is platonic and dangerously co-dependent. Sam cleans Leo’s bedroom but complains when he leaves an empty soda bottle in the fridge. Sam starts to date a man whose voice we hear on a phone message. Leo starts to befriend another gal-pal from work, Chloe. While both Leo and Sam are writers, they need to engage in daily jobs to earn a living.

Leo is played by the very able and talented Matthew Busch. Unfortunately he has to overdo it in the first half of the play (as mentioned). It’s as the play progresses we see Busch really shine when he starts to get more in tune with his feelings and his situation. That’s when I enjoyed him most.

Sam is played by Sofia Palmero and is as affected in her role as the “fat lady” and Leo is as the “gay man.” As she and Leo start to drift apart, especially after Sam’s novel is published, something unthinkable happens between the two friends that changes their relationship and the trajectory of their lives. Casey Sacco plays Chloe with guts and a sort of innocence. At a point during the play she, too, comes clean. In the end we see these three as they really are, warts and all. However, that’s when they all start to grow into…real human beings.

The play is divided into monthly episodes, some long and some very short. It’s worth getting through the first several “months” to get to the meat of the play. It is funny, sensitive, and realistic. Who hasn’t had a relationship where we wanted to scream, as the song says, “I Wanna F#%*ing Tear You Apart”?