Structured as a night at a restaurant with six small courses, each sketch is a course to amuse the mind and lighten the heart. You follow these performers as they incarnate from character to caricature and back again. The scenarios are strong in their silliness: a doctor’s office for a woman who is on no medication and a Baby-Rent-A-Center (it is what it sounds like) pop to mind.
The quibble that I have is the disparity between the advertisement and the actual tone of the night. This disparity then becomes my main problem with itself. You see, it is advertised as dark humor, and well, it isn’t. The material and performances are accomplished to be sure, but the material they wrote and are working with is very, very sweet. These characters get frustrated with each other, never angry. Hostility is talked through and neurosis (as is the case in a vagina dialogue, the evening’s appetizer) is treated with tender understanding. The effect is that the humor plateaus without punch lines. It is not a show that grips or elicits gasps or is filled with dialogue that sticks in your memory. And while those concerns stand, overall the evening is lite fare that’s good-hearted fun for all.
Soup!
Written and Performed by Trio (a.k.a. Gabrielle Fisher, Noah Kelly and Pardis Parsa)
With assistance by Matt Shipley
Reviewed by Danielle Martin
I once had a teacher who advised the analytical aspect of my mind went into overtime, but I have to say I saw the dark side of the humor here and perhaps the tribute to the performers is that they can be appreciated on various levels. The silliness consisted of some delightfully inventive and fantastical situations that rang with a disguised dark social truth. Dark humor doesn’t mean the interacting parties are necessarily mean to each other. Indeed, the characters go forth blissfully blind to the implications of their conduct. Rent a baby to an immature couple with a husband who behaves like a kid (not to mention the commercialization of renting)? That piece speaks volumes about our irresponsible, careless attitudes towards children and child-rearing. What about the frustrated cop who is encouraged to consider exciting alternative work as a hit man? In another scenario, we can recognize an overly medicated society when a patient who needs no medication develops anxiety over her peculiar state. And I will not forget the talking vagina. I wondered how the numerous men in the audience were taking that vignette. Can they understand and/or do they know how skittish we can be about our private parts? I didn’t understand why the vagina spoke with a male voice, but perhaps I missed a point.