Sordid Lives
Sordid Lives
By Del Shore
Directed by Frank Hilgenberg
Starring Nolarae Stein, Katrina Tharin, Marion Marsh, and Jeff Hole
Theatre Downtown, Orlando FL</strong>
This time’s a charm as Theatre Downtown brings back the perennial favorite “Sordid Lives.” This is their third and by far funniest production of this classic story of small town denial and infighting. Grandma Peggy Ingram has died; she hit her head on a sink in a cheap hotel after tripping over the wooden legs of her lover G. W. Nethercott (Rob Del Medico). Her sister Sissy Hickey (Stein) is ashamed; this sort of death can only bring shame to her small town family. A fight breaks out between Peggy’s daughters Latrella Williamson (Tharin) and La Vonda Dupree (Marsh) over the disposition of Peggy’s mink stole – Peggy loved that stole and La Vonda wants to bury her with it while Latrella thinks its way too hot in a Texas summer for a corpse to wear fur. But that’s all just subtext on a bill board, the real question is whether Earl “Brother Boy” Ingram (Hole) will be allowed to attend. He’s been locked up for 20 years as evil Dr. Eve Bollinger (Natalie Doliner Schneider) attempts to de-homosexualize him. When faced with a choice between rapes by a frustrated psychologist or maintaining his perfect drag of Tammy Wynette, Brother Boy chokes and it’s up to La Vonda to break him out of the closet and restore him to the family that mostly wishes he was never born.
There’s tons more going on here, but the themes are internal familial loves and hates along, the denial and abandonment of gay children who must either flee of face incarceration, and a general Li’l Abner collection of small town small mindedness and inbreeding that sells tickets to us more sophisticated big city audiences. Every character is needle sharp from the slutty chain smoking La Vonda to her tight ass sister Latrella to the doofus side kick of G.W.’s drinking buddy Odell (Adam Shorts-Boarman). Paralleling the story are monologs by Latrell’s estranged son Ty Williamson (Cameron Hentz), he fled with his sexuality to New York where life hasn’t been easy, but has offered more options than No Name, Texas. Bitsy Mae Harling is his counterpart, she stayed home and sings county in low cut jeans, her love of men is considered a sin as well, but mostly because she dates Negros. Most impressive is Jeff Hole’s Brother Boy, he’s not only a pretty decent drag queen when called upon, but he takes Brother Boy’s sadness and infuses it with a hopeful light similar to what a really good “sad clown” can do without words. Comic relief is everywhere, from ageing bar fly Juanita Bartlett whose dialog is a pointed non sequiturs to over wrought Noleta Nethercott (Peri Hope Goldberg) and her wonderful tuna casserole monolog in the first act.
This raunchy comedy is all about family, but is no way is it family friendly. Sex, adultery, and misogamy fill the story, and we never have time to explore the perennial favorites of alcoholism, incest or jail time. The cast is sharp, the timing tight, and the energy high: Bitsy Mea’s solos neatly bookended acts and Ty’s monologs show there are alternatives if you can break away from those who try to love you but can’t . This show is up again the Orlando Fringe (and there’s a discounts with a Fringe button), and it’s the sort of raunchy comedy that would fit right into the flow of that carnival. Catch this quickly, its every bit as good or better than the big festival down the street.
For more information on Theatre Downtown, please visit http://www.theatredowntown.net
