Two Minutes' Traffic: The Inheritance Parts I and II, Round House Theatre

 The Inheritance Parts One and Two by Matthew López

• is, as directed by Tom Story and in production at Round House Theatre, very good theatre.
• is a thoughtful and inventive adaptation of E.M. Forster's Howard's End.
• is at least an hour too long, but as directed by Story, never actually loses the audience.
• moves fluidly across the stage, defying realism for the collective engagement in make believe that is my favorite flavor of theatre.
• has here a truly remarkable ensemble cast, with a trio of powerful performances from David Gow, Jordi Bertrán Ramírez, and Adam Poss at its heart.
• is staged in a way that had me thinking a lot about how bare feet operate as a signifier.
• made the woman seated next to me constantly verbalize enough thoughtful MMmmms and occasional whoas... that I wanted her to appreciate the play a little less. 
• made me make my own involuntary squeak in Part Two when I realized that Toby and Leo were about to have a brief conversation.
• finds a way to function as both adaptation and something entirely new.
• as a text probably should have committed to an all-male ensemble and not briefly depicted a single female character, despite how that necessarily narrows the spectrum of the community it chooses to depict, and no matter happy I invariably am to see the great Nancy Robinette do absolutely anything onstage.
• as performed at Round House Theatre features the first time I have seen such stringent protections on behalf of the onstage actors regarding cell phone usage in a regional theatre, and leaves me with a lot of questions about why now and what next.
• has a little trouble making its second half feel as remarkable and exciting as its first, because it's more fun to play with introducing choices and arranging characters than it is to finish playing out the setup you've artfully achieved here.
• is highly recommended.