Near the end of the second act of “Fuddy Meers,” David Lindsay-Abaire’s macabre comedy at 1st Stage, a hand puppet says to the other characters, “You’re all crazy.” And indeed, there are moments throughout the play when that analysis seems correct. In a moment just before intermission, for instance, chaos reigns supreme as gun-toting and knife-wielding characters wind up in a pile on the floor. Yet what’s at work in “Fuddy Meers” is not madness, and Lindsay-Abaire’s world isn’t irrational and illogical. Effects have their causes. It just takes a while for them to be revealed.
| If you go |
| “Fuddy Meers” |
| Where: 1st Stage, 1524 Spring Hill Rd., McLean |
| When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; 7 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 27 |
| Info: $15 to $25; 703-854-1856, 1ststagetysons.org |
The play begins as Claire (MiRan Powell) wakes, looking warily around her bedroom as though she doesn’t know where she is. Richard (Kevin Hasser), explains that he is Claire’s husband, that she has “psychogenic amnesia,” meaning that every day she wakes up with no memory and must start life anew. Kenny (Jacob Yeh), their rebellious, pot-smoking son, enters and makes his disrespect for his parents abundantly clear.
Soon a masked man (Matt Dewberry) appears and abducts Claire. He claims to be her brother and, with her unflappable innocence, Claire agrees to follow him to the home of her mother, Gertie (Jane Margulies Kalbfeld). An ex-con, Millet (Doug Mattingly) shows up with his foul-mouthed puppet. Soon Richard and Kenny arrive with a policewoman (Nevie Brooks), whose gun they have confiscated.
And that’s just the beginning of the bizarre, convoluted plot.
Lindsay-Abaire obviously intended “Meers” to be a black comedy and it would be a mistake to try to over-analyze it, almost all have secrets they don’t want revealed. But while the main intent is entertainment, Lindsay-Abaire is clearly interested in the way events of the past affect issues of the present.
Powell’s plucky Claire is a bastion of calm and cheer, always plugging away at life despite its refusal to lodge in her memory. Kalbfeld is excellent as Gertie, a tough, determined and clever survivor who has had a stroke and therefore speaks in a language only Claire can comprehend. Jacob Yeh gives Kenny all the adolescent insolence and idiocy the role deserves.
Lindsay-Abaire packs a lot of violence into “Meers” but he doesn’t end with it. He closes the play with a sweet moment between Kenny and Claire, as Kenny expresses a rare gentle emotion. Claire is still an amnesiac, but that moment suggests the beginning of a healing process for herself and her family.
