NYRSF January 2013 Issue 293 by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-02-11T05:00:00+00:00

Once again I am in awe of Flux’s ability to pull together some of the best acting talents, creating a brilliant, tight ensemble. No one gave a throw-away performance (as can happen in some pieces), and the interplay between Crime Fighters Aja Houston, Rachel Hip-Flores, and Becky Byers created a quirky yet serious group of strong women. Marnie Schulenburg and Chinaza Uche, as Lisa and Peter, provided a solid center for the deeper aspects of Szymkowicz’s script by merging the humor with an engaging vulnerability.

There were, however, a few standouts—one being August Schulenburg as Dr. X. I’m used to writing about Schulenburg as an artistic director and playwright, but I had not seen him on stage. For once, I am at a loss for words. Schulenburg made Dr. X pitiable, creepy, hilarious, and well, . . . insane. I have to say my favorite moment, one which illustrated Schulenburg’s attention to detail, involved a “re-creation” of a crime. As the Crime Fighters stepped through the events at a crime scene, it was re-enacted for the audience. Dr. X stood at the window, syringe in hand, watching the lovers sleeping inside. Schulenburg kissed the syringe, licked it, then drew it down his body with an over-the-top sensuality, ending in a truly hilarious pelvic wiggle. It was deliciously sick—exactly what one would expect of Dr. X, yet something not every actor would uncover and portray.

Of course, I have to admit a fondness for the insanity that is Becky Byers (Dog Act, The Honeycomb Trilogy) on stage. Her portrayal of Nina, tough yet delightfully girly in her flouncy miniskirt, remained a subtle, engaging presence until she melded it with Schulenburg’s own special brand of over the top. The scene between the two finally giving in to a moment of debauchery in the hospital room was genius. Ratcheting the reactions between one another, the two managed to create the most entertaining (and delightfully wrong) love scene I’ve ever witnessed. Having their moment alone in the hospital room where Dr. X has been handcuffed to the bed after his capture and heart transplant, Nina gives in to her baser desires for the villain. Schulenburg and Byers trade off lines and physical proximity slowly, humorously, and edgily probing the characters’ desires—a little coyness here, a little BDSM there—until Dr. X handcuffs her to the bed and escapes.

Another standout performance came from Susan Louise O’Connor as the Nurse. O’Connor was brilliantly geeky and unsure, playing to the comedy inherent in the scene but never going too far unless necessary, as with the “Doughnut Intervention” (never get between a thwarted woman and her Krispy Kremes) after her rejection by Peter, and the rather spectacular jump-kick to take out former lover Dr. X. While her portrayal of the Nurse’s bizarre relationship to Dr. X and her comic infatuation with Peter certainly created well-deserved laughter, she did give the impression of a strong yet vulnerable woman who just couldn’t seem to catch a break.

Scenic designer Will Lowry kept the black

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