Here's the review of PennyBear in the Chicago Tribune by Nina Metz. She first talks about a play and then talks about my group:
'Elephant' topples easy metaphors
Strange Tree scores; PennyBear troupe is back
By Nina Metz | Special to the Chicago Tribune
June 27, 2008
The elephant in the room dominating Emily Schwartz's latest play is no metaphor but an actual elephant (OK, mechanical elephant)—and if that doesn't tell you something about this playwright's wry sense of humor, may I suggest a quick scan of the title.
[Ms. Metz goes on about Strange Trees; but let's get to the part about PennyBear]
I caught a performance by PennyBear at this year's SketchFest in January, and the local troupe made a big impression with their unusually vivid characters and clever material that often verges on the disturbing. This is not your standard sketch group.
Their current show, "PennyBear: A Collection of Miniature Plays and Curious Diversions" is a mix of new and old material, and the four writer-performers are just as strong and confident as I remember. Nancy Friedrich has a nicely demented thing going on under her pretty-girl surface—it's as if her eyeballs are about to bounce all over the place any minute. Jon Forsythe brings an awkward intelligence to the table, and it's a good balance to the straight-man energy of Marla Caceres and Padraic Connelly.
Co-written and directed by James Whittington (who recently worked on the current Second City mainstage revue), the show is observational and darkly weird. One bit has a father reading the pamphlet from a tampon box to his daughter (the scene goes beyond the standard "ew" of the premise); another is just a quick joke about amorous unicorns reaching climax.
Almost all of it works, and the glue holding these scenes together is a voice-over that mimics that sound of an old instructional record: "Now, let's begin emotional warm-ups."
It's retro and funny and it gives the show a polish most sketch revues lack.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment