goestoshow

Disclaimer: I saw this play on a comped ticket. There will also be offensive words in this review, as those offensive words are what the play is about. Namely, the N word and the three letter F word. If these words in an academic context offend you, you may want to stop reading here.

I went into this play concerned that what I was about to see might be some kind of slam poetry activist in your face kind of thing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it just wouldn’t be my cup of tea. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t that at all.

This is an autobiographical one man play about its actor, Berend McKenzie. It’s about growing up and living as a gay black man, a combination that he demonstrates gives the mean people we all experience in our lives double the ammunition to use on him. In a series of deeply personal and intimate skits we see him as a child, discovering that pink skipping ropes cause him to get called a fag, not to mention that they make good whips for kids who gain the wrong kind of inspiration from Roots; as a teenager, discovering that while mohawks and camo pants make you look punk rock, eyeliner just makes you look gay; and as an adult actor, discovering that while he fits into two shoeboxes (gay and black) the combination of them prevents him from getting work.

It is in this last scenario that my favorite line of the play lies: “I don’t look like a black man, more like a member of the gay mexican drug cartel!”

I have previously reviewed plays by both Guys Un-Disguised and Berend McKenzie in previous years by the way. Berend McKenzie’s Get Off The Cross, Mary! was really funny as well, and if you saw and liked it, you’ll probably like this as well.

I’m not entirely sure I got the title right here, but it’s close enough. This was a Trevor Schmidt/Nick Green play. Those two are people you hear about at every fringe as they’re involved with usually several plays at the fringe. Generally ones that tackle gay themes and issues.

Well, this one was definitely about those types of issues (which I was actually not expecting). It’s basically 3 segments, each dedicated to one member of a family that’s falling apart due to the various usual life issues you can imagine (including the son being gay).

There is a definite element of mysticism to each of the plots in this play. The father believes the messages on his coffee cups (think Jones soda lid kind of thing) are telling him things that help him in his life (see Joan of Arcadia/Wonderfall). The mother seems to use “Why did the chicken cross the road?” jokes to help her process her life. The son is inspired by a boy who decided to go off and meditate for 6 years, and wants to learn to meditate and elevate himself above his painful memories.

All in all, it was definitely not a happy play. It was good though. I would have liked more cohesiveness between the three plots (eg what DID the father ‘remember’ to bring flowers for, anyways?), but it worked well enough.

Oh, and one note: Women do not talk like stereotypical gay men. I find this a lot in plays where a man is playing a woman. I know it’s hard to portray yourself as a woman when you’re a bald heavyset man wearing a button-up open to your chest, but still. They do not talk like that.

Get Off The Cross, Mary! was really damn funny though. It’s about three puppets (who’s careers supposedly started on The Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock, but went downhill from there) who are trying to make a film comeback by making a movie about Jesus being gay. It opens with the auditioning of their handlers (you know, the people who stick their hands up the puppets’ asses *wink wink*) and is hilarious pretty much from the first moment to the crazy musical finish (”At first I was afraid, I was crucified!”).

Especially good was how they dealt with mistakes. This is the Fringe, so you don’t really expect flawless execution. Least of all in the BYOVs, which are almost all bars. Three times during the play a bottle was dropped (once was me… oops) and every time they worked it into the play. When a line was dropped, it was similarily worked into the play. I found that pretty impressive, since most plays I’ve seen at the Fringe didn’t deal very well with that sort of thing.

Good play. Totally worth it and I highly recommend it. It may even have tied with The Aleatory Project as my favorite of the Fringe so far.