Fringe: Big Thick Rod: Nymphomania Errant

Impressive theater company Rabbit Hole Ensemble have, in the past, focused their attentions on the spookier stories; I reviewed their chilling The Night of Nosferatu last year, and was lucky enough to catch The Siblings, their Grimm re-telling of Hansel and Gretel, in the 2006 MITF.  Their aesthetic aims for actor-driven events, using as few props as possible, and an acknowledged theatricality that gives a hyper-reality to the stories they tell.

This year in the Fringe, they present Big Thick Rod, a comedy by Stanton Wood (author of their Nosferatu).  A change of pace for the company, this is a surreal fairy tale about a wood nymph named Cricket (Tatiana Gomberg), who marries a career-interested banker named Elmer (Arthur Aulisi), who, after the honeymoon, insists that he cannot continue having sex nine times a day to satisfy Cricket's nymph desires.  So she hires Jerome (Dan Ajl Kitrosser), a gardener, to tend her bush.  When, after two weeks, Jerome can't keep up the pace, she also hires a burly gentleman named Big Thick Rod (Matt W. Cody) to help, seducing him away from his fetishist banker employer Burgermeister (Emily Hartford), with offers of more money.

The caprices of the plot become increasingly surreal and sordid as Elmer takes away Cricket's allowance, so she becomes BTR's pimp.   Elmer takes up with a blow-up doll, Burgermeister reveals a shocking story about himself, and Jerome grows a third arm in the middle of his chest.  I was unsure what genre we were in- it's billed in the press materials as a fairy tale, although it's more a meditative social satire on the intercourse of business and the business of intercourse, while the title and setup of the play lead one to expect a bawdy sex comedy (and although Wood's script is thoughtfully amusing, it's one of the least erotic plays I've ever seen). 

Edward Elefterion's direction, in line with Rabbit Hole Ensemble's trademark economical style, here seems at odds with the material; a lighter, more farcical tone might have served the conniving and cruel characters in the story better.

The actors all give fine performances, especially Gomberg as Cricket and Hartford as Burgermeister.

NYC condoms were thoughtfully given out at the door.

Big Thick Rod
Rabbit Hole Ensemble

Part of The New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC)

VENUE #10: The New School for Drama Theater

Remaining performances:

Mon 11 @ 7:45
Thu 14 @ 5:45
Wed 20 @ 9:30
Fri 22 @ 9:30

Photos:

1. Arthur Aulisi and Tatiana Gomberg as Elmer and Cricket
2. Emily Hartford and Matt W. Cody as Burgermeister and Big Thick Rod