Theater: Sex as Punishment

Under the Weather. Saul Bellow, novelist (Herzog) and would-be playwright, cannot seem to decide whether women are a pain in the neck, a pain in the groin, or a pain in the psyche. In these three one-acters, the relations between the sexes appear more punishing than pleasurable, something men and women endure rather than relish.

In the first playlet. Out from Under, a middle-aged widower with sex-battle fatigue gets himself pinned under a car rather than drive off to announce his engagement to a high-pitched emotional amazon. In The Wen, a distinguished atomic physicist yearns to re-enter the love playpen of...