SEARCH CurtainUp
REVIEWS
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
LA/San Diego
DC
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
On TKTS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
NYC Weather
George and Martha
By Amanda Cooper
|
Does Clinton have a crook in his cock? Does he? ---George That's what all the Republicans ask.---- Martha |
Karen Finley & Neil Medlin
|
Finley has chosen the two-performer model, bringing actor Neal Medlyn as George along for her self-written and directed ride. Though the performance is not without its insights into Bush and Stewart, the dialogue and staging spends too much time tripping over itself in an attempt to be casual yet revelatory.
Medlyn's Bush is not an idiot but simply a president who chooses not to think. His stage persona is decidedly Bush, from light Texan accent to frat-boy loafing mode. Finley's Martha is pushy and prudish, with a very visible sadistic streak. At times we hear Martha deepening her voice and inflecting her speech with Martha-esque monoton, but her persona shifts back to a more traditional Finley style and rhythm particularly during her monologues.
Some arrested development aspects made explicit show George being satiated by a baby bottle of beer and Martha using baby wipes to clean out her mouth after a presidential blow job. They are seen comforting each other by saying "be my baby" on loop. They also grill the other on life decisions and critique their respective parental relationships. At one point George wakes up screaming that Osama Bin Laden is inside him and Martha finds Bin Laden hiding in George's ass.
Biting and curious as these concepts are, they are strictly a performance artist's fantasy -- Finley's takes on two widely liked and disliked celebrities. While some ideas are repeated again and again, others are buried beneath word exchanges about current politics or Martha's approaching jail sentence, or brushed past in order to make room for more dependency-laden sex.
Midway through the production Martha declares "You know George, I should have called my magazine Dying. " One wonders how would the real Martha Stewart would feel about this suggestion. One also wonders why Finley has settled for an exploration and critique with too little life to avoid being brushed aside as another incoherent liberal attack on our current president.
|
George and Martha
Written and Directed by Karen Finley Performed by Karen Finley and Neal Medlyn Set by Gary Hayes Wigs by Josh Dieffenbacher Presented by Collective: Unconscious and Performance Space 122 Running time 1 hour 10 minutes Collective: Unconscious at 279 Church Street ( White Street -- accessible from the A,C,E,N,R,Q,W,6,J,M,Z to Canal or 1,9 to Franklin Street) 212- 352-0255 Thursday - Saturday at 8pm, September 10 - October 30, opening night is September 17 Tickets are $25 Reviewed by Amanda Cooper based on September 16, 2004 performance. |
Retold by Tina Packer of Shakespeare & Co. Click image to buy.
Our Review
Mendes at the Donmar
Our Review
At This Theater
Leonard Maltin's 2003 Movie and Video Guide
Ridiculous!The Theatrical Life & Times of Charles Ludlam
6, 500 Comparative Phrases including 800 Shakespearean Metaphors by CurtainUp's editor.
Click image to buy.
Go here for details and larger image.
