I was a little hesitant when I went down to Greene last Friday for the opening night of “Talley’s Folly” at the Chenango River Theatre. I guess it didn’t register with me when they sent the press release, but I Googled it to find out a little more about it (like a Boy Scout, I try always to be prepared) and it dawned on me that this was a one-act play. Ninety or so minutes. With two characters.

It’s not something you see on the stage too often, a single act play with only two speaking roles. And, quite frankly, from an audience perspective, it’s a gamble. You’re stuck with these two actors for the entire duration of the play – and without an intermission? Forget it. This could well be recipe for disaster. If you’re not instantly and irresistably connected with both actors, it can be a very long hour and a half.

Fortunately for me, and I think for you, “Talley’s Folly” literally flies by. I didn’t once look at my watch or have that uncomfortable “make this be over” moment that so often happens when you fail to make that connection, made all the more crucial by the intimacy of a two-man show.

And that’s what Lanford Wilson’s “Talley’s Folly” is all about, really – connections. The play’s set on the 4th of July in Lebanon, Missouri in 1944. In early evening, we see a dilapidated boathouse on the farm of the Talley family in the bucolic countryside. Matt Friedman (Drew Kahl) a nebbish immigrant accountant, introduces us to the setting, which he intends to be the scene of his proposal to the reluctant spitfire Sally Talley (Elizabeth Raetz), who seems determined to head for spinsterhood.

Matt knows it will be a difficult task to get Sally to say yes. They’d met a year ago, had a whirlwind if awkward courtship, and went their separate ways. Well, not entirely. While Matt toiled away as an accountant in St. Louis, he took time every day to write a letter to Sally. She claims, of course, that she didn’t read them. That they never made her laugh. That they never touched her heart. But we know early on that Sally’s just putting on a brave and brazen front. Somewhere behind all that vinegar, there’s a heart that’s yearning to be loved.