CM+Fuddy+Meers+Critique

Chris Muthig February 8, 2011 THEA2100H, Richmond //__Fuddy Meers__: A Production to Remember// Entering into the depths of the Cellar Theatre, I found myself looking at a sleeping woman in a bed tucked far too into a corner to be part of any usable stage, set beside an oddly familiar-feeling kitchen that reminded me of wonderful dinners at my grandmother’s home. After a short wait, we were told the play was beginning, and I watched as the small amount of space turned into a plethora of settings and an enthralling plot.

The protagonist of __Fuddy Meers__ is a woman with a special case of amnesia where she loses her memory every night when she falls asleep, and the flow of the plot is filled with confusion and chaos as though to make the audience feel what she, Claire, is really going through. This chaos was created, for the most part, through development of the plot leading to a point where questions are finally answered. The audience is thrown into confusion from the start by not knowing what is wrong with Claire. The audience knows exactly what she knows and is given the opportunity to learn in the same way she does. We aren’t sure of who the good guys are or why her memory is lost, making it of the utmost importance to the audience to learn more about her past, just as it is for Claire. The ability of the text to so fluidly answer seemingly unimportant questions, such as Phillip’s hatred for bacon, creates a huge disappointment, however, when it fails to answer important questions about Claire. For instance, we know Claire has a scar on her forehead. We are also fairly certain that this has to do with a paperweight being thrown at her from small insinuations throughout the text. However, in the end, when Claire begins to remember the day she lost her memory, she has the ability to drive all the way to a carnival and walk around before she just faints out of nowhere. This seems to be impossible to connect to anything Phillip did that day, even in the realm of theatre where disbelief is lessened. Ending the play with questions about paper weights and fainting in fun houses that make the viewer feel as if they missed something or were simply unable to comprehend the play, when in reality it was no fault of the viewer but of the text itself.

Moving along through the chaos in a realistic but comical way included the use of cursing. Understandably, people escaping from prison and angry teenage children will curse; however, in the course of a play this type of language must be used strategically if it is to still have a strong effect and not just turn into a crude manner of speech. The text of the play put so much emphasis on the profane words themselves that they really just began to detract from the play. Kenny, for example, it seemed would spew profanity every time he opened his mouth in the first act, and this eventually spread to Richard’s vocabulary as well. Without a pause from profanity throughout the entire first at, at the climax of excitement and violence, as Phillip is losing his temper on Claire and Kenny, and the word “cunt” is screamed across the stage in anger, I felt not so much as a twinge of the anger or filth the word was meant to conjure in my mind. With such a vulgar word for a member of the audience to hear, more emotion should be felt, but because of the disturbing amount of cursing throughout the play, the word became more of just fill rather than a powerful tool to be used in such an intense moment.

Progressing through the play includes the process of passing through several different locations, including a car, and this means that with low space and budget plays could easily fall short of the hopes of the text. The crew of __Fuddy Meers__ innovatively overcame this problem with one of the most intriguing stages I’ve ever seen. I’ve heard of plays being produced in the round, but this production actually just went around, and forward and backward. The moving stage pieces created such a dynamic space for the actors that just the motion of the stage during transitions kept the audience engaged. The crew also used every inch of space provided to them, even to the point that in my seat in the front row, I had to make sure my feet were pulled in close to me to avoid them getting run over by a moving bed! The set completely helped the audience understand and feel the plot of the play and did not detract from what the actors were doing.

Working hand in hand with the set, the music greatly added to the audience’s experience of the show. Music and sounds created drama when Claire would have her flash backs to the day she lost her memory or memories before then. The sound of barking dogs reminded her of her father and family and happy memories. On the other hand, the playing of carnival music brought Claire to worse memories. Even though neither we as the audience nor Claire knew why this music symbolized something bad, the music itself just gave off the feeling of foreboding. The use of music also added greatly to the set in times such as Kenny pantomiming changing the radio station and the music scanning through radio stations. These sounds created a sense of realism to the production, and the music created plot relevant connections that continued the flow of the production even during the changes of scenes.

Each character’s costume creates the initial impression of the character upon the audience, making this a crucial portion of the production. Millet was incredibly well developed character, from text all the way to costume and makeup. His makeup made his face look slightly dirty and older, just as recently escaped man with mental issues would look in the viewers mind. His suit was an odd, but somewhat respectable suit from a department store. Included in this ensemble was a story in the text describing how he had stolen this suit from the department store on his way over to the house. This creates a believable character that the viewers can understand. Claire’s wardrobe throughout the production changes from pajamas in the morning to a dress. This simple change had deeper meaning behind it based on the time of the change right when Claire was beginning her discovery of her past on her own. This new costume symbolized the change of Claire’s role from a child under the control of others to making her own decisions and finding her past. Phillip’s costume however fell far short of this standard set by the other characters. Phillips character never develops in the mind of the viewer because the way he dresses does not match that of his age. Phillips clothing of a tight fitting jacket and loose fitting, old looking jeans seems slightly inappropriate. A man of his age would more likely wear more mature clothing, or seeing that he has recently broken out of prison, the clothes would at least look much more knew, as Millet’s did because he stole them. Rather than being dressed as a 40 year old man, who has already been married for 19 years and been in prison for two, his outfit looks more like what a college student would wear. This causes a great deal of confusion for the audience who are trying to see him for his true character, but their first impression says he is something else.

In the end the cast is going to have the largest affect on how the audience views the play. The cast will be the ones interacting with the set, lighting and music and presenting the text of the production to the audience. In this aspect, the production exceeded expectations. The characters in __Fuddy Meers__ are undeniably difficult to portray for actors. Each actor obviously put great thought and time into developing their characters and it showed in their inept ability to play their roles. Phillip has traits that are hard to portray through an entire production, namely a prominent lisp and limp, that were both used correctly and in a way that created his character. These kinds of traits can be used in excess, creating a distraction for the audience rather than building character development, and this ill effect was fully avoided. Gertrude has had a stroke recently, causing her to lose much of her ability to coherently speak, and in the case of disabilities such as this it is very easy for the actor to portray the characteristic in an immature manner based on stereotypes. This character was well portrayed however in a way that allowed the audience to fully understand the disability and her difficulties without detracting from the character.

Together, each part creates the whole of the play, causing weak points to bring the value of the production down. __Fuddy Meers__ did have weaknesses, but the dynamic set and dedicated actors create an enthralling production that the audience has no choice but to get lost in. The viewers can’t help but hope at the end of the production that in the morning Claire will remember this action filled day.