The Cottage
Hartford Stage
Hartford
February 3, 2026
A knock at the door is the last thing one wants to hear when they’ve snuck away to spend a torrid evening with their illicit lover. But what happens when that knock is followed by another … and another … and then two more?
The Cottage happens, a play that blows through its two-hour runtime thanks to strong performances and snappy dialogue that doesn’t slow down for a moment.
The synopsis for the play states, “If six people are involved in a love triangle – does that make it a love hexagon? A witty farce about romance, sex, marriage, betrayal and, well — love, The Cottage will keep you laughing as a hilarious web of secrets is revealed.”
I think that’s the best place to stop when it comes to spoilers for the show, so forgive some of the generalities that follow. However, I think experiencing the unfolding of the plot first hand is key to embodying the characters, and the message, playwright Sandy Rustin is conveying.
Even in the best plays, I’m often aware I’m watching a performance. That’s not a complaint– part of the joy of theater is the artifice. Rustin’s script is so packed with dialogue, intrigue, revelations and laugh-out-loud moments that there’s hardly a moment to consider the trappings of theater. You feel like you’ve been dropped into a series of real conversations, and you’re holding on by the seat of your pants trying to keep up.
The breakneck pace of the play grounds the realizations that happen as the play progresses. There’s the comedic level of the reveals, where characters discover just how tangled their web of deceit and debauchery really is. These moments are almost always played for laughs, and to its credit, The Cottage keeps things light and breezy instead of mourning the wreckage of broken homes and marriages.
There’s another level to the play, in which various characters learn about themselves by learning about their partner’s infidelities. Most of these moments of self-realization center on Sylvia (Mary Cavett). She speeds past her growth until she stops herself to consider what she’s said and heard during the conversations. It’s reminiscent of real life, where moments of profound personal insight kind of just happen, and we’re forced to marvel at both our own genius in the moment and our stupidity for taking that long to understand.
Again, these personal moments aren’t played in a heavy way, but they land with the weight of knowing. The only times I remembered I was watching a play was when the physical comedy of the performance took center stage, and those times were genuinely hilarious and used to great effect. In particular, there’s a scene in the second half of the play where, as my brother would say, they zigged instead of zagged, and it brought the house down.
Every member of the cast shines, throwing themselves headlong into the absurdity of the situation, the language and the physical demands of the role. Theater is movement, and the staging, blocking and high-strung performances of this one room play are a delight. As for my favorite performer of the evening, I have to give the nod to Jetta Juriansz’s Dierdre. Her flitty energy sends an already frenetic setup into overdrive, and she delivers the message of the play with surprising and believable lucidity.
That message is? Love is not what we’ve been told it is, or even what we think it is. Love is something that must be defined by each person in each situation, even the crucible of six people in a cottage.
NEXT
The Cottage continues at Hartford Stage through Feb. 8.
Jamil gets to learn about how trees influence life even after death.
