BWW Reviews: Madhorse Theatre Mounts Edgy Lindsay-Abaire Comedy

South Portland's Madhorse Theatre Company has chosen to mount Kimberly Akimbo, an edgy, quirky, wrenching comedy by David Lindsay-Abaire, as their second offering of the season. The five-character tale of a teenager's coming to terms with a strange disease that has caused her to age prematurely, with her damaged and dysfunctional New Jersey family, and with the pangs of first love is etched with colorful characters and occasionally brilliant dialogue and is given a sensitive production by director Nathan Speckman.

Lindsay-Abaire's 2000 play sparkles with crisp, raw, sometimes raunchy, often poignant dialogue and an unerring sense of the dark wackiness that resides within us all. He is able to create empathy and humor for each of these misfits and to inject into the cauldron of their craziness a tempering measure of humanity. Clocking in at over two hours with an interval, Kimberly Akimbo could use a little trimming, particularly in the first act, which drags in the process of establishing character relationships and motivations. The second act, however, spins itself out with a tautly wired tension that explodes at the climax and resolves into a bitter-sweet and touching dénouement.

Director Nathan Speckman draws naturalistic, believable performances from his actors, and he shapes the dramatic arc of the play with a keen sense of the inherent conflicts. The bare bones scenery and props by Scott Leland are sufficient to create the claustrophobic world of the characters, though the repeated scene changes involving moving a table on and off stage tend to slow the action and break the dramatic flow. Speckman and Leland create a credible ambiance in their sound design. Heather Crocker manages a simple and effective lighting design, and Anna Halloran creates character with unassuming contemporary clothes.

The cast is strong and committed. Tootie Van Reenen makes a convincing teenager trapped in an older woman's body. She exudes a sincerity, reticence and sensitivity that pay dividends in her second act emotional climax. Janice Gardner captures perfectly her mother Pattie's anger, narcissism, hypochondria, and manic unhappiness. Burke Brimmer plays Pattie's husband as a pale, washed-out, directionless middle-aged man, whose life has already passed him by. Thomas Campbell makes a sweet and kooky suitor, Jeff, just geeky enough to fit into this strange assemblage and yet, the ray of hope for Kimberly's one chance of happiness. Outstanding is Shannon Campbell as Kimberly's drug-addicted aunt with a larcenous bent. She creates a pattern of speech and a physicality that effectively suggest the desperate young woman's strung-out state, and her delivery is perfectly timed for caustic humor.

Once again, the Madhorse company has dared to do something different, and it is this daring which makes a difference for all of us in the Portland theatre community.

Photos courtesy of Madhorse Theatre

Kimberly Akimbo runs until February 8, 2015. For information on the rest of the season, visit www.madhorse.com or call (207) 747-4148.)