""Fat Men in Skirts,"" produced by the Mercury Players Theatre and playing at the Bartell Theatre the weekends of Feb. 4th and 11th, goes for shock over substance. Upon entering the theatre, two understudies/ushers arbitrarily chose audience members to be ""frisked."" This theatrical choice is meant to prepare the audience for the show, but its use in ""Fat Men in Skirts"" ends up making many of the audience members scared and uncomfortable.
Overall, this show would fall under the genre of dark comedy with its incestual relationships, cannibalism, murder and pornography. It begins with Phyllis Hogan (Karen Moeller) and her son Bishop (Thom Rehwaldt), who are marooned on an island on their way to Italy to see her husband, filmmaker Howard Hogan (Christopher Braunschweig). While stranded, Phyllis and Bishop transform, Phyllis from the aristocratic female to a distracted mental-case, and Bishop from a stuttering Katharine Hepburn obsessed child to an unprincipled young adult.
Moeller, with experience from the Madison Rep, showcased her acting chops with a consistent and enjoyable performance. The comedy of her character was not forced or pushed, but was allowed to naturally flow and entertain the audience.
As a whole, Rehwaldt effectively covered the transformation of his character, a transformation that was not easy to portray. His issues with the character stemmed more from the script itself, rather than from the acting choices he made.
The shining stars in this production, though, were both Braunschweig and Jocelyn Fitz-Gibbon (porn star Pam and the schizophrenic Popo Martin). Both brought a much more natural air to their respective characters. The way they both delivered their lines with the appearance of effortlessness made watching them on stage a complete pleasure.
The best technical aspect of this show by far was the hanging lights attached to the pillar off stage right. Designed by set designer, Sasha Augustine, and lighting designer, Lawrence Bennett, it was beautiful and unique to see the stunning lamps hanging sideways off the wall. They also added a unique ambiance to the production and were able to highlight many of the actors in a subtle way.
The script was really the downfall of this production. It tended to make the controversial issues too overt and overwhelmed the audience with them. While the pop culture references were timely and, for the most part, entertaining, the script lacked underlying conflict. Each character's motives were so clear from the outset of each act that it sometimes seemed as if there was nowhere for these actors to go.
The first act, in its abstractness, was by far the most enjoyable. The inserted flashbacks and overall confusion were very entertaining. If only the second and third acts included more of what the first act highlighted so well.
In the end, the actors gave much to this performance—so much so that it almost evened out what the script took away.
""Fat Men in Skirts"" is playing at the Bartell Theatre, located at 113 E. Mifflin Street, the weekends of Feb. 4th and 11th at 8 p.m. General admission is $15 or $12 at the door with a donation to Soles4Souls.
