Perhaps the main purpose of art is to make us think. And while my general approach to reviewing theatre has been described – without malice – as being like the guy on the next bar stool, the more experimental shows always intrigue me. One doesn’t listen to Phillip Glass because of his hummable melodies, or see Joan Miro paintings because the work is a beautiful version of your own landscape. Personally, I need Gershwin and da Vinci in my life more than either of those artists. And yet there’s always the need to explore.
And so we have Fefu and Her Friends from Theatre Nuevo. Staged in a private home in south St. Louis, it ranges between dreamlike and vivid. A group of women gather to plan some future event. Fefu, the hostess, is strong and rather strange. Seven guests appear and we learn parts of their stories. Scene 1 is in the living room, where everyone, cast and audience gathers. Scene 2 occurs simultaneously in four different places as the audience breaks into groups and the scene is repeated four times, sometimes with dialogue overlapping. Scene 3 brings everyone back to the living room to round things off.
There are strong performances here, despite the feeling that they are puzzle pieces that may not fit any specific part of the tale, not surprising in this sort of theatre. CeCe Hill’s Fefu is indeed the leader of the pack, almost manicky in her energy and her enthusiasm for what clearly seems like self-loathing. Jamie Mckittrick has a marvelous monologue that she delivers climbing in and out of a window (on a rainy opening night, no less) that’s hard to resist. Louise, who’s in a wheelchair after a hunting accident a year previously, is Sophia Brown, who has the chops to handle the most tormented role of the eight, and she’s splendid.
Maria Irene Fornes wrote this play, Fornes being an iconoclastic figure in experimental theatre. There’s been a fair amount of academic analysis of the symbolism and feminism of the play, but the thing to do is to just let it flow and take it in. Quite fascinating.
Nevertheless, don’t plan on showing up and buying a ticket. The address won’t be revealed until tickets are purchased – and the size of the audience, not surprisingly, is limited. Overall, something different and challenging for the adventurous playgoer.
Fefu and her Friends
through April 20
Theatre Nuevo
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