The Big Meal
The Big Meal
By Dan LeFranc
Directed by Mark Edward Smith
Starring Sarah French and Steven Lane
Mad Cow Theatre Company, Orlando FL</strong>
“Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans;” thus spoke John Lennon. And its life and all its local crises that make this show so intimate. There’s a man (occasionally Steven Lane) and there’s a woman (often Ginger Lee McDermott). Then there are younger counterparts (Sarah French and Jeffery Todd Parrott). When not otherwise occupied they’re skulking on the banquette against the back wall. They meet, mate, and raise everyone’s children (Trevor Simoneau and Rebecca Schledwitz). Their respective parents (most often Shami J. McCormick and Peter W. Galman) approve, disapprove, gift gifts, and drink too much. Well, everyone is under a permanent haze of alcohol tonight although nothing Eugene O’Neill or Edward Albee worthy. But the story line isn’t the charm of tonight’s entertainment; rather it’s the clever distribution of roles among the cast.
We have three sets of actors at our disposal: older, middle aged, and younger couples rotate the roles from scene to scene as they are served by an uncredited “Waitress of Death.” As the story progresses each actor plays each stage of life; children appear, grow, and find their own loves and the life. Death is a part of life; Author LeFranc relies on a final meal to signify the end of a cycle for each role although as Mr. Lane gleefully revealed to me at the reception “I never have to eat!” Scenes are pared down to the bare minimum; more than once someone ages five years in a pause during a line. It takes a little while to figure this all out, but when you fall into this particular cycle of life, it’s a warm and wonderful experience.
For more information on Mad Cow, please visit http://www.madcowtheatre.com