In the Name of Bob doesn’t stray too far out of the ordinary for a fallen guardian angel story (the kind we see on film much more frequently than on the stage). It also has an extremely unfortunate title. But what In the Name of Bob lacks in ingenuity, it makes up in charm and execution.
The Grecian Formula, by Carter Anne McGowan, is much more likely than most Fringe Festival shows to come out of the Fringe with a larger production waiting. It’s got theatrical in-jokes seeping out of its pores at every moment. It had the audience roaring, and played with theatrical themes quite poignantly. Just about every stage convention was lambasted, from the 11 o’clock number to the play-within-the-play (or even play-within-the-play-within-the-play). McGowan clearly has a deep knowledge of theatrical conventions and the absurdity of the producer’s side of the process, and knows which buttons to push to get the most laughs.
As the play progresses, however, the theatrical in-jokes become less and less novel and increasingly tiresome. McGowan tries to work in a plot through the jokes, a poorly fleshed-out story of a slave, Alidocious (Todd Lawson), seeking freedom for his daughter Iphigenia (Elena Dones) from the rhapsode Thespiotis (Kevin Carolan). In a lull in his career, and bemoaning how writing and papyrus has destroyed the young’s attention span (nice touch), Thespiotis is commissioned by the tyrant Peisistratus (Anthony Cochrane, frequently called “Pissistratus”). With no writing skill himself, Thespiotis assigns the task to his slave, who alternately writes too happy or too depressed, depending on Peisistratus’ mood.
What’s more upsetting than the uninspiring plot is the inconsistency and shallowness of McGowan’s use of satire. She obvious grasps the nuances of classical theater, modern dramatic theory, and theater’s contemporary realities. But rather than turning her knowledge into a whole work that really gets contemporary theater’s goat, she comes up with something more closely resembling Forbidden Broadway or, worse, a Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer-level shallow spoof. The Grecian Formula uses lazy, name-dropping references instead of going deeper for satire, and the result is something less fun, meaner, and more stupid and tasteless. It's what Epic Movie would be like as a play. McGowan clearly knows the theater like the back of her hand, but without a more disciplined satire, the play simply feels redundant rather than loving. Her frequent interjection of self-mockery is not an acceptable substitute.
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