HOME, I'M DARLING & PERFECT ARRANGEMENT and other works that serve as unexpected companion pieces

We're all probably aware of the idea of the "Dueling Movie" trope, where due to market research, attempts to cash in, or just plain coincidence two or movies with similar premises come out at around the same time. But how often does that happen in theatre?

The idea came to me a while back because this Summer two theatres in the Twin Cities, completely independently of each other, produced well-recieved comedy-dramasbwritten in the 2010s that play on the disparity between the sitcom version of the 1950s and the realities that were hidden by those superficial charms.

Perfect Arrangement, written by Topher Payne is about a pair of gay couples in the 1950s who live in a duplex in lavender marriages to each others' partners and find themselves facing a reckoning when two of them (employees of the State Department) are tasked with identifying and expelling "sexual deviants" from government.

Home, I'm Darling by Lauren Wade, while set in the present, is about a couple who deliberately try to live their lives as if it were the 1950s. The disparity between the rest of the world and their version of 1950s life leads them to question not just their choices but also their marriage.

I would have loved to see both productions, but I only saw the latter, which I found to be a refreshingly mature and well-thought-out show. I did recently read the script for Perfect Arrangement , though, and at least on the page it came across as both more broad in its comedy and more overtly "plotty" in its dramatic arc compared to Home, I'm DarIing. But they both do illuminate themes of each other, and at a time when certain political forces seem determined to regress our country back to the 50s (if not earlier) their relevance becomes much more pronounced.

Are any of you familiar with those shows? Can you think of any other examples of theatre productions that matched themes closely in unintended ways?