I keep forgetting Joe is in Hamnet, or maybe I never knew it because Paul Mescal is the male headliner, but I guess this has solved that problem. His twin set and billowing pants are a dated hoot. He and Jessie look like a prestigious faculty couple at a liberal arts college. Jessie is the extremely sensible music teacher who plays seven instruments and has a Ph.D in music theory with particular expertise in Renaissance Bassoon Lore and the history of the demisemihemidemisemiquaver, and Joe teaches drama with an emphasis on poetry readings, is prone to playing the recorder barefoot during class, smokes a pipe because he thinks it makes him look cooler, and secretly hates that his wife has gotten published and he can only get into occasional local open mic nights.
