New York, April 2011 - Day Seven, "A Minister's Wife" and "The Motherf**ker with the Hat"

It would be hard to find two shows more different than this pair. "A Minister's Wife" is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's "Candida" and is set in the study of a proper English minister in 1898. "The Motherf**ker with the Hat" is a play set in present day New York, in three different apartments, none of which is particularly appealing. In "A Minister's Wife" the action -- such as it is -- revolves around whether a young poet can steal the heart of the minister's wife. But, as with the standard British drawing room drama, very little is spoken of directly. In "The Motherf**ker with the Hat," there is very little that isn't spoken of directly. Infidelity (and there's plenty of it), backsliding addicts, violence of all sorts...it's all there.

But there are a few things the two shows have in common. Both have great sets. Both have solid acting. Both left me entirely cold.