Maria/Stuart
Written by Jason Grote
Directed by Marti Lyons
at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont (map)
thru May 5 | tickets: $20-$25 | more info
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Dark comedy morphs from quirky to whacked-out
Sideshow Theatre Company presents
Maria/Stuart
Review by Katy Walsh
Sideshow Theatre presents the Chicago premiere of Maria/Stuart. Grandma Ruthie uses dementia to grow old hatefully. The crusty old hag torments her family with unapologetic meanness. Her bitchy daughters Lizzie and Marnie have inherited their mom’s maternal skills. They smother and berate their own kids and each other’s. The third daughter Sylvia is the nice but crazy one. She has hooks for hands and still uses a fax machine. The dysfunctional family gathers to celebrate Grandma Ruthie’s birthday. Everyone is there for the big day including a shape shifter. The supernatural guest is determined to make the family face the ugly truth. Maria/Stuart starts out normal, morphs
Playwright Jason Grote has quite an imagination. His family struggles with multi-generational issues like an aging parent and homebound adult children. These are the relatable issues of an average family. Grote buries this ordinary stuff under a layer of paranormal and covers that up with a family in denial. What is going on? Grote writes authentic scenes of family dispute and then interjects these intermittent appearances of a shape shifter. The shape shifter reveals family truths within a loud and flowery oration. This sudden *poof* is disconcerting, and when it’s Susan Monts-Bologna’s (Ruthie) turn to shape shift, it’s fricking creepy. Monts-Bologna’s popping up at a window startled me… every time.
Under the direction of Marti Lyons, this show is weirdly engaging. The hilarious stand-outs are Ruthie and her girls. Monts-Bologna plays sharp-tongued, bitter matriarch perfectly. Later, the spry and crazy eyed Monts-Bologna looks committable. Hitting the physical comedy with flourish, Ann James (Sylvia) makes eating cheeseballs or strutting lingerie pathetic and endearing simultaneously. James is sweet and a hoot! Mary Anne Bowman (Lizzie) and Jennifer Joan Taylor (Marnie) are terrific as the uptight sisters. Bowman goes controlled vicious. And Taylor brings the cruel barbs wrapped in pleasantries.
This is a comedy… dark and freaky as it is. Grote wrote a hot mess of a story. And Lyons actualizes it with a vengeance that left me a little stunned. Family dinners can get chaotic. And this one pulls off the Tupperware lid and leaves no lettuce leaf unturned. Maria/Stuart is sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes confusing and sometimes just f#cked up. Today, I have a different conclusion then I had immediately after the show. I continue to connect the dots, erase those lines and try a different sequence. Crazy! If nothing else, it’s worth seeing Maria/Stuart to appreciate Nick Sieben’s set design before and after the show.
Rating: ★★½
Maria/Stuart continues through May5th at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sundays 3pm. Tickets are $20-$25, and are available by phone (773-975-8150) or online through TheaterWit.org (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at SideshowTheatre.org. (Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes, includes an intermission)
Photos by Jonathan L. Green
artists
cast
Nate Whelden (Stuart), Scottie Caldwell (Hannah), Mary Anne Bowman (Lizzie), Ann James (Aunt Sylvia), Susan Monts-Bologna (Ruthie), Jennifer Joan Taylor (Marnie).
behind the scenes
Marti Lyons (director), Nick Sieben (scenic designer), Kristin DeiTos (costume designer), Mac Vaughey (lighting designer), Christopher Kriz (sound designer), Peter Schmidt (properties manager), Karie Miller (asst. director/movement coordinator), John Kelly (master electrician), Jeffrey Gardner (dramaturg), Shawn Rutledge (technical director), Benjamin Dawson (production manager), Shelby Glasgow (stage manager), Alison McLeod (asst. stage manager), Jonathan L. Green (photos)
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