Shay Mace
Hitched, chirpy, and driving to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon, young couple Patrick & Claire grind to a halt when they hit a deer somewhere in the rural eponymous National Forest. Was it a deer? Why is there a body lying next to that tree? Why is the body speaking to each of them if it’s just a body? This dark comedy from multidisciplinary NYC-based theatre company Ur Mean Kathleen provides a thoughtful allegory for closeted queerness, and the things we refuse to accept within ourselves in the process of self-discovery. More than that, it is utterly unique and completely engrossing.
Dealing with the very practical elements of this set-up, Claire and Patrick soon realise they have to cover up their own tracks, and as they flit back-and-forth from their car to the scene of the accident, it becomes apparent that something either supernatural or totally hallucinatory is really going on. What ensues is scenes of the pair writhing the body (later named Megan) around the stage and trying to avoid their fingerprints from ending up anywhere incriminating. It’s no spoiler to say that they fail miserably, and falling into the sort of argument that feels as though they were fighting over something completely mundane.
As Megan begins to communicate with the couple in spurious moments of solitude, the fragility of their marriage, and respective shallow identities, become apparent, in hysterical and greatly captivating scenography. This is paired with real moments of absurd drama, that connect you to the bubble in which all characters live, and for some, die. There’s no simple answers provided for how we quite ended up in this situation, with Tom Quackenbush’s deft script instead asking the audience to look at the lived experiences of these people. They are caricatures, in many regards, yet I suspect many will walk away with an eerie sense of familiarity with their personalities.
Performances from Joey D’Amore as Patrick and August Kiss Fegley as Claire are stupendously well-rounded, with each offering up the amelioration in the situation dutifully. Patrick is an often detestable character, clearly dragging Claire down, and D’Amore provides the thin façade of a ‘loving husband’ through perfectly managed speech and facial expressions. Fegley’s top notch characterisation slowly burns through to reveal something deeper at play, and she manages Claire’s bewildered energy to develop the arc of the piece perfectly.
At the heart, Kit Colacito, who barely moves for the entire performance, offers an enchanting and disconcerting vision of Megan in equal measure. As they are manoeuvred around the stage, they flop and curl impossibly well as a cadaver well should, with tight and unflinching direction from Katie Kunkel. It’s a concept I have not seen so well-fleshed out on stage, and yet it feels as though Ur Mean Kathleen have truly mastered it in its first iteration.
Pacing issues do unfortunately intersect the piece’s progression, with the deployment of tech elements, sound effects, and a stage strewn in crunchy twigs not quite all seamlessly blending together. It is a slow-burn piece, even in just fifty-five minutes, and it is not always to the advantage of the performers, who occasionally end up drawing out certain scenes and concepts a couple of minutes too long.
There’s no end to the imagination on show here. Ripe, high-concept dark comedy that rings with vivid allegory, and will totally grab your full attention.
Recommended Drink: Pair this with a Dark and Stormy – representative of more than one thing on show here.
You can catch The Body I Left in Susquehanna National Forest at Upper Theatre at theSpace @ Niddry St until August 22nd (not the 16th) from 21:15 (55mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Salvador Kent
Tom Clayton
Hannah Hamilton
