Bad Seed
Bad Seed
By Maxwell Anderson
Directed by Wade Hair
Starring Katie Mecca, Jennifer Rea
Breakthrough theatre, Winter Park, FL</strong>
Cute Kid. Too bad she’s a complete psychopath and on the fast track for a Hannibal Lecter Scholarship for Young Murderesses. I’m referring to precocious Rhoda Penmark (Katie Mecca tonight, the role alternates with Clarissa Moon,) she doesn’t play nice with her friends, keeps changing her story under cross examination, and seems destined for a Hollywood producer’s career. Her mother Christine (Rea) is bothered by this proto-Satanic behavior but ultimately helps Rhoda cover her tracks. In this case blood is thicker than justice and surrounding the mysterious death are a cast of eccentric characters. Sharron Tedder is Monica the Upstairs Neighbor with a degree in Freudian analysis form Life Magazine, then there’s the skinny yet alcoholic Mrs. Daigle (Tabatha Rox) whose mourning process involves bourbon, easy on the water if you please. And don’t forget the prissy educator Miss Fern (Sarah Philips) who narrow-mindedly decides little Rhoda is bad for enrollment. The only person who sees through Rhoda’s machinations is the janitor Leroy (John Moughan), he’s a Popeye type but, but pays the ultimate prices in an exceptionally unusual way: how many people die in excelsior fires anymore? And where the heck do you even GET excelsior today?
While the Freud is slathered on like mayo at Jimmy John’s, the story snaps to attention once the theorizing wraps up. Some of the first act dialog sounds like a lecture, but once little Rhoda turns up the heat on her mother there’s some significant drama. The men in this story mostly exist to dump exposition or take dated stands on the Nature vs. Nurture argument, only Leroy has any serious story role. Today we’ve replaced the psychiatrist couch with a bottle of pills, but beside than nothing changes – occasionally really evil people come into the world and they seem to go far with no penalty. I’ll give here this: little Rhoda needs a sequel.
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