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| Mermaid Wars |
The Mermaid Wars: In The Mermaid
Wars, tritons (the gender neutral word for mermaids/mermen) have surfaced throughout the world. Some are captured and studied, while others are worshiped and admired. Everyone seems to be waiting for something to happen. Even ten years after the first triton appearance, it's unclear the level of threat - if any - they pose. This sets the stage for the show as we follow no fewer than 5 storylines revolving to varying degrees around the mesmerizing creatures.
One ends up admiring Mermaid Wars more for its ambition than for its execution. The storylines are mildly compelling, but the stakes remain muddled throughout. Mythology gets mixed up with metaphor and the show can't settle on its main priority: is it to create a new world? to entertain? to caution? It hints at each, but doesn't do any effectively. Some strong choices (including the opening scene, which effortlessly provides information about the world in a funny, believable, unassuming way) ultimately don't overpower the bizarre ones (the submarine plot.)
The staging is effective - scaffolding, lighting, and smoke are used judiciously to create separate spaces on the stage. Throughout the show, silent tritons move, sway, and climb through the scaffolding - an unsettling and unobtrusive reminder that the tritons are ever-present. Halley and William Straub deserve recognition for their fantastic triton costumes.
Despite some interesting production elements, the show ultimately bites off more than it can chew. A tighter focus would go a long way. Mermaid Wars ends up having a lot to talk about, but few things to say.
One ends up admiring Mermaid Wars more for its ambition than for its execution. The storylines are mildly compelling, but the stakes remain muddled throughout. Mythology gets mixed up with metaphor and the show can't settle on its main priority: is it to create a new world? to entertain? to caution? It hints at each, but doesn't do any effectively. Some strong choices (including the opening scene, which effortlessly provides information about the world in a funny, believable, unassuming way) ultimately don't overpower the bizarre ones (the submarine plot.)
The staging is effective - scaffolding, lighting, and smoke are used judiciously to create separate spaces on the stage. Throughout the show, silent tritons move, sway, and climb through the scaffolding - an unsettling and unobtrusive reminder that the tritons are ever-present. Halley and William Straub deserve recognition for their fantastic triton costumes.
Despite some interesting production elements, the show ultimately bites off more than it can chew. A tighter focus would go a long way. Mermaid Wars ends up having a lot to talk about, but few things to say.
Fringe Warning: Mermaid Wars runs 20 minutes past its advertised runtime.
Diversity Auditions: The Hollywood Fringe website describes Diversity Auditions as a narrative about a diversity competition in which “winners obtain an agent, a spot on a reality show, pay and the chance to continue their dreams…. The Diversity Auditions get messy when someone asks the question, ‘What is diversity?’” It’s a fascinating concept. It’s also a complete misrepresentation of the show.
Instead, Diversity Auditions is actually a collection of unfocused autobiographical monologues by 8 queer comics whose unpolished delivery gives the impression one is attending an early rehearsal, not a final product. On the whole the material is undeveloped – intermittently compelling, unsatisfyingly stuck between stand up and storytelling. The sets are not funny enough to be the former, too meandering and incoherent to be the latter.
Heather Turman stands out as a likable and amusing presence, while Andy Arias’s set has the most potential. He has some plumb life experiences to draw from, and if he can shape his material and layer in a few well-placed punchlines, he could create an uproarious, memorable routine.
My Gay Husband: Classic sitcom conventions collide with a modern understanding of love and sex in this fun mashup, presented as a "lost" 1950s TV pilot. Gay Beau (Matt Austin) is happily married to straight Dottie (Fiona Gubelmann), but an anniversary gift mishap with a nosy neighbor threatens to out Beau and ruin the Jones' standing in the community.
Austin and Gubelmann embody their roles with the right balance of parody and depth. We believe them as sitcom characters and as the real life human beings they represent. The chemistry between the two is strong - aided by the help of a few visual gags that are as cute as they are amusing. Delightfully, the gay stereotypes are as outdated as the sitcoms they are mimicking. Normally these tropes are offensive and tired, but in My Gay Husband it's part of the joke.
The show is incredibly well-directed with smart staging and set choices. Carli Cackowski draws spot-on performances from her actors, and the set effectively acknowledges the limitations of a fringe production without compromising tone.
If there's any room for improvement, it is with the script itself. Any good old fashioned sitcom wraps the storyline completely and succinctly by final credits. However, the story here seems to simply stop as opposed to conclude- in an awkward sexual encounter between Beau and Dottie that is funny, but does not quite pay off thematically. Additionally, the show could use several more genuine punchlines, to make the show hilarious as opposed to simply amusing.
You can catch The Mermaid Wars at studio/stage on June 26th (8:00 PM), 27th (8:00 PM), and 28th (8:00 PM). Find tickets here.
You can catch Diversity Auditions at Lounge Theatre on June 26th (4:00 PM) and 28th (4:00 PM). Find tickets here.
You can catch My Gay Husband at Theatre Asylum on June 25th (7:00 PM) and 26th (11:55 PM). Find tickets here.
Dan Johnson is a freelance writer in Los Angeles helping cover the 2015 Hollywood Fringe Festival for Cinesnatch.
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