''This Is How It Goes'' is a play by

Neil LaBute Neil N. LaBute (born March 19, 1963) is an American playwright, film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is best-known for a play that he wrote and later adapted for film, '' In the Company of Men'' (1997), which won awards from the Sundance F ...

set in small town America, about the repercussions of an interracial love triangle. The play premiered Off-Broadway in 2005 and also was produced in the West End in 2005.

Plot and concept

High school sweethearts — the star of the high school track team (Cody) and a cheerleader (Belinda) — marry. He becomes a successful businessman; she's a

stay-at-home mom A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which includes caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; making, buying ...

. A high school acquaintance (Man) returns to town and rents the room over their garage and upsets the delicate balance of their relationship, raising questions about who they want to be, who they are, and what made them that way. The play's title refers to Man's frequent breaking of drama's

Fourth Wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

as he addresses the audience in between scenes. He prefaces his remarks to set up the next scene with "This is how it goes..." or his remarks on the preceding action with "This is how it went...". Deeply in love with Belinda, or at least the Belinda he remembered, he professes to being an

unreliable narrator An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility is compromised. They can be found in fiction and film, and range from children to mature characters. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in ''The Rhetoric of Fiction''. While unr ...

. Occasional scenes may not to have occurred as he relates them at first and get re-acted in a style that the audience might find more reasonable or plausible.

Productions

''This Is How It Goes'' premiered Off-Broadway at

The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

on March 11, 2005 in previews, and opened officially on March 27, 2005. Directed by George C. Wolfe, the cast starred

Amanda Peet Amanda Peet (born January 11, 1972) is an American actress. She began her career with small parts on television, and made her feature film debut in '' Animal Room'' (1995). Her portrayal of Jill St. Claire in '' The Whole Nine Yards'' (2000) bro ...

as Belinda,

Jeffrey Wright Jeffrey Wright (born December 7, 1965) is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Belize in the Broadway production of ''Angels in America'', for which he would win a Tony Award, and its HBO miniseries adaptation, for which he woul ...

as Cody, and

Ben Stiller Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known ...

as Man.

Marisa Tomei Marisa Tomei ( , ; born December 4, 1964) is an American actress. She came to prominence as a cast member on '' The Cosby Show'' spin-off '' A Different World'' in 1987. After having minor roles in a few films, she came to international attentio ...

was originally cast as Belinda but left the production before it began, citing "personal family reasons". The production ran through April 24, 2005. The play opened in the West End at the

Donmar Warehouse The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977. Sam Mendes, Michael Grandage and Josie Rourke have all served as artistic director, a post held since 2019 by Mi ...

on 14 July 2005 and ran through 3 September 2005. Directed by Moises Kaufman, the production starred

Ben Chaplin Ben Chaplin (born Benedict John Greenwood; 31 July 1969)''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com is a British actor. He is best known for his roles in films, including ''The Truth About Cats & Dogs' ...

as Man,

Megan Dodds Megan Lynne Dodds is an American actress. She played Kate in the 2006 series ''Not Going Out'', alongside Lee Mack and Tim Vine, and has appeared in the series '' Spooks'', '' House'', ''Detroit 1-8-7'', and '' CSI: NY'', and the films '' Ever A ...

as Belinda, and

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba (; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor.

as Cody.Billington, Michael
''This Is How It Goes''
''The Guardian'', 1 June 2005 In Germany it opened at the English Theatre of Hamburg on 6 September 2010 with Julie Addy as Belinda, Ike Ononye as Cody and Sean Browne as Man. The play was produced at the

King's Head Theatre The King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an off-West End venue in London. It is the second oldest operating pub theatre in the UK. In 2021, Mark Ravenhill became Artistic Director and the theatre focusses on producing LGBTQ ...

in Islington, London, from September 7 to October 3, 2010, starring

Gemma Atkinson Gemma Louise Atkinson (born 16 November 1984) is an English influencer, actress, radio presenter and former glamour model. She played Lisa Hunter in ''Hollyoaks'' (2001–2005, 2022) and in three spin-off series, '' Hollyoaks: After Hours'' (2 ...

as Belinda, Okezie Morro as Cody and Tom Greaves as 'Man'.

References

External links

* {{iobdb title, 3737 Plays by Neil LaBute 2005 plays Plays set in the United States Plays about race and ethnicity Off-Broadway plays