The road gets a little bumpy in the second act. Greg Romero's Sharpen My Dick is like a little circus gone horribly wrong - it makes no sense, but it's funny and entertaining. Candy Room by William Charles Mery loses a bit of momentum as it sketches some stereotypical New York characters and relationships. Aiming for the quivering underbelly of vapid TV shows like Friends, it isn't sharply realized enough to hit the mark. Even so, it has some quite funny moments, and it has excellent music by Linda Dowdell.
The dark matter of Kyle Jarrow's noirish The Saddest Thing in the History of World is brightened by appropriately dry performances by Michael Mason and Elliotte Crowell. Its played-sort-of-for-laughs gore brings us to the evening's closer: Eric Sanders's gross, lunatic 1.1-1.7. Directed by Stephen Brackett, who recently did such an admirable job with the flawed Hotel Oracle, this crazily inventive two-character play is a miniature epic of nauseating foulness - and true love. Told in a stutter of short scenes, with nothing but plain words, between Richie (Cole Wimpee) and Donna (Nell Mooney) - two heroic performers - the play gives new meaning to the phrase "disgustingly sweet." Cathartic, nay, emetic, it's simply brilliant.
Bolstering the strong material and uniformly good performances is solid directorial talent. Each playlet has its own director, including some very accomplished ones like Thomas Caruso and NYIT Best Director Award winner Isaac Byrne. Equally important are the loose transitions, which create a celebratory atmosphere that makes the audience part of the show. All told, fuckplays is an embarrassment of seriously sexed-up riches.
fuckplays moves to Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn starting this Friday and runs Fridays only through April 27. Tickets at SmartTix or call 212-868-4444.
Article comments
1 - Josh Hathaway
Jon, it sounds brilliant. Too bad it will probably never make it to Alabama. This sounds like something I would like to see. Clever turns on a subject so easy to get wrong, and I mean that in the theatrical- nevermind. Well done and interesting-sounding series of plays.