DECEMBER 10, 1993 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 15
ENTERTAINMENT
Absolute farce is absolute fun at N.Y. queer theater
Reviewed by Barry Daniels
The Ridiculous Theatrical Company has opened its season in New York with a revival of the late Charles Ludlam's How to Write a Play. Ludlam called the play "an absolute farce." The current production is absolute fun. It is a queer grab-bag of vaudeville turns, bad puns, sexual innuendo, elaborate drag and sheer theatrical exuberance.
Ludlam wrote the play in 1983, during the successful run of The Mystery of Irma Vep. To meet a grant requirement that his company perform two plays each season, it was performed, but only twice. It is a play about a playwright who is trying to write a play to meet a deadline and who is constantly interrupted by assorted friends, neighbors, aspiring artists, runaway gorillas, etc. Everett Quinton, artistic director of the company, has updated the text with topical allusions for his staging and has assumed the role of the playwright that was created by Ludlam (Quinton played the role of the playwright's roommate in the original production).
The first act of How to Write a Play is a series of inspired comic turns. Katy Dierlam, as Natalie, the housekeeper, performs a striptease that leaves her three hundred pound body in red underwear with black fringe and tassels: it's awesome. Mel Nieves appears as a crotch-grabbing Federal Express boy with pornographic pictures taped to his clipboard. Mrs. Hornblatt, played by Bobby Reed in drag, is a pushy stage mother, whose twenty-six year old daughter, Rosalie (Christine Weiss) is forced against her will to perform. She is costumed as an oversized Shirley Temple whose act involves tapping out answers to mathematical questions with her foot. Arthur T. Acuna, as macrobiotic cook, Madame Wong, is deli-
cious in Dragon Lady drag.
Act II focuses on the arrival of Generalissimo Carragua Fanfarron, who has fallen in love with Quinton in the drag role of Galas and whom he thinks is a woman. Quinton agrees to meet him in drag as he needs the money the ex-Latin American dictator will put up for his next production. Lenys Sama is suitably lubricious as the general, hard-on bulging in his pants, as he tries to bed the less-than-eager Quinton. The act concludes with a dinner party for the Emperor and Empress of Humidia (Michael Lynch and Alonia King), a pair of visiting African dignitaries, which are an excellent example of Ludlam's use of politically incorrect stereotypes to create ridiculous bad taste.
Quinton is superb as the increasingly frenzied playwright, Everett. His rubber face and bulging eyes manage to put a queer spin on the straightest of lines. Jimmy Szczepanek is absolutely adorable as Michael, a dreamboat of a roommate. The relationship between the two is affectionate and passionate. It is typical of Quinton's update and the Ridiculous style, that when Everett overcome with desire starts to bugger Michael, Szczepanek manages to make a slapstick routine out of getting a rubber out of its package. Szczepanek is deliciously bitchy as he watches the Fanfarron slaver over Quinton in Act II.
The visual style of the Ridiculous has always had the effect of a gay window dresser gone berserk. Tom Greenfield's set remains true to this style with assorted garish colors and various slightly demented properties. The set actually manages a few comic turns of its own. Ramona Ponce's costumes are the icing on the cake. Michael's Act I hot pants overalls with Roman centurion overskirt in denim is inspired.
ANITA AND STEVE SHEVETT
Everett Quinton (left) has a deadline to meet, but is constantly interrupted by a parade of crazy distractions, including his housekeeper, Katy Dierlam.
The drag outfits are self-consciously extreme. Mrs. Hornblatt is in a white pantsuit with gold and white accessories that seems to build to her elaborate upsweep wig. Michael Lynch as Claudia is swathed in mauve silk and black feathers. Quinton is given a stylish black cocktail dress accessorized with surreal eyes that makes one think of Schiaparelli. It is characteristic of the Ridiculous style that actors and designer work together to play with the theatricality of drag.
This production of How to Write a Play convinces that Ludlam's humor and the company's style have not dated. Its blend of comic tradition, outrageous bad taste and uninhibited sexuality has a childlike glee
about it that is infectious. The Ridiculous Theatrical Company has helped make queer theater a part of the theatrical landscape in New York, and it now appeals to a large heterosexual audience. It is interesting that it no longer seems like a clandestine and coterie style in an age when queers don't have to be in the closet. Ludlam's laughter now seems both liberating and healing; it is a celebration of Queer Pride.
How to Write a Play is playing an open run at the Ridiculous Theatre at One Sheridan Square in New York's Greenwich Village. Performances are Wednesday through Friday at 8 pm; Saturday at 7 pm and 10 pm; and Sunday at 7 pm. Tickets are $25 and can be reserved at 212-691-2271.
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