Feminism, a firearm, a farm animal on the door step, family dynamics, and a whole lot of fun!
Mercury Players knock it out of the church with their first regular production of the season with Joanna Murray-Smith's The Female of the Species which is a laugh riot from start to finish under the talented direction of Leslie Sanchez who vividly brought her vision to life with vivacity.
Mercury Players set the standard with their stunning set design, decorating, and costumes and kudos must be given right off the start to set designers, Grant Morrison, and Lorne Siefred; set decorators Leslie Sanchez, and Shauna Clinging who also worked on costuming alongside Mony Vesseur.
As the lights went down during the nearly full Saturday matinee, the local stars immediately began to shine. Audience members were taken into the home of famous feminist author Margot Mason who is played by Kathy Yewall who is clearly quite full of herself with her home office decorated with a beautiful painted self-portrait, past magazine covers and all of her life's work shelved within arms reach. Local theatre buffs will recognize Yewell who was brilliant in the role of Bernice Trimble who struggled with on-coming Alzheimer's in last year's production of The Gravitational Pull of Bernice Trimble — her character Margot not quite as delicate. Yewell is superb from start to finish
The scene opens up with Margot dropping a F-bomb as she is talking to her publisher Theo on the phone about her daunting deadline for a new book which she has barely made a dent in. The explosion of plot twists and hilarity continue swiftly as while Margot is debating possible titles for the new book she has barely started, she suddenly gets an unexpected pop in from one of her former students Molly Rivers played flawlessly by Jess Mattin who flows in with the perfect title The Female of the Species.
Molly comes not to just give some perfect words but also to take some action with a grudge she has been holding onto for some time on how Margot's own careless words had a negative impact on her mother who clutched to the messages in one of Margot's earlier works The Cerebral Vagina. It is pleasure to watch Mattin play the slightly unhinged character who not only holds a grudge but also a gun.
Margot's daughter Tess (Sarah Knight) who is exasperated and exhausted from the duties of being a stay at home wife and mother enters while her mother finds herself a little tied up while Molly is in the other room. Knight is so entertaining and fun to watch as she really takes the 'meh' attitude finding her mother in a precarious situation. Instead she is plagued with everything that is on her plate that comes with the thankless job of being a stay at home mom — something her own mother never saw a lot of worth in. Tess lets it all out from the frustrations of oversharing cabbies, to building to scale models of a cinema and overhanging questions asked by her kids such as where do Pokemon go on vacation?
The Pokenos, perhaps?
The plot thickens when Tess's husband Bryan (John Close) suddenly stops by after being away on a business trip. Bryan's slightly boring and nice guy demeanor is played perfectly and zany by Close who was last seen in Lesser Demons. Brandon Newall makes quite the entrance as Frank the oversharing taxi driver who Tess confesses did not care much for hearing his own sob story on the ride over. Newall who was last seen in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost this past summer really finds his comedic footing as Frank who steals scenes and splits sides with the hilarious way he carries the character. Finally we see the man behind the initial phone call, Margot's publisher Theo played to a tee by Layne Kriwoken who expects Margot to have better news about her book.
Director Sanchez should be credited for finding the perfect cast to bring the hilarious play loosely based on past true events to life. Local theatre lovers will not want to miss out on Mercury's first regular production of the season to witness the humorous hi-jinks that unfold inside Mason's home while a cow blocks her front door.
Don't miss the window of opportunity as there are only four shows left with two 7:30 p.m. performances on Nov. 28, and 29, and two 2:30 matinees on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. General admission is $25 before tax and can be purchased in person at Ten Old Books in Duncan or online through Eventbrite.
This play will not only leave audience members with sore ribs from laughing, but also with a lot of provoking thoughts to reflect on.
