POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive continues through October 22nd.
I was looking forward to a smart feminist perspective on US politics, ripe for mining comic material. Afterall, the show ran on Broadway with a stellar, award-nominated cast. Farce it was, big bold, and raunchy. But I’m scratching my head about the feminist angle. The women presented here act like their male counterparts might, dominating each other, using violence, and barking insults that would make a sailor blush.
The absurd situations are ripe for slapstick comedy; the President publicly insults his wife (using the c-word) which causes concern amongst our allies, his ditzy pregnant mistress shows up as does his drug-dealing bull dyke sister. POTUS has an anal abscess that’s played for laughs. When he’s presumed murdered by a breast milk pumping journalist, all hell breaks loose. POTUS devolves quickly into a Keystone Cops meets Benny Hill romp largely devoid of any real messages or commentary.
I’m sure the cast are fine actors (Kim Blanck (Jean – His Press Secretary), Allison Guinn (Bernadette – His Sister), Stephanie Pope Lofgren (Margaret – His Wife, The First Lady), Deirdre Lovejoy (Harriet – His Chief of Staff), Susan Lynskey (Stephanie – His Secretary), Stephanie Styles (Dusty – His Dalliance), and Dominique Ariel Toney (Chris – A Journalist), but you couldn’t tell here with the broad caricaturist format. These are cartoon characters letting it all hang loose with their roles. There were loud guffaws at most of the insult lines levied against each other, particularly when one character tells another to ‘get off my dick’- a very male-centric barb. There’s hallucinogenic drug comedy that goes on way too long, and the slapstick scenes are not well executed.
If silly slapstick is your schtick, you’ll love this show. It ain’t Wilder or Ernst Lubitsch, but a momentary escape from the stress and drama of our lives.
For tickets and more information, visit Click Here or call the box office at (510-647-2949).
Photo Credit: Kevin Berne
Videos
![]() |
A Candlelit Homecoming First United Methodist Church & Mission Santa Clara (12/07-12/09) |
|
![]() |
Quest: Music by Women and Nonbinary Composers Center for New Music (1/20-1/20) |
|
![]() |
Norbert Leo Butz: Broadway, My Way Feinstein's at the Nikko (12/08-12/09) |
|
![]() |
Forever Plaid The Gateway Theatre (4/18-5/05) |
|
![]() |
Don Reed's East 14th - 14th Birthday! The Marsh Berkeley (10/07-12/17) |
|
![]() |
Frozen San Jose Center for the Performing Arts (8/21-9/01) |
|
![]() |
Sex, Camp, Rock N' Roll Shotgun Players at The Ashby Stage (12/05-12/19) |
|
![]() |
Sondheim on Sondheim Guggenheim Entertainment at 3Below (11/25-12/17) |
|
![]() |
Cirque du Soleil: KOOZA Under the Big Top at Santa Clara County Fairgrounds (4/26-5/26) |
|
![]() |
District Merchants by Aaron Posner Pear Theatre (11/18-12/10) |
|
VIEW ALL SHOWS ADD A SHOW |
Recommended For You