Filed under Reviews
I just got back from a play I saw downtown at the Stages Repertory Theatre. I saw a very demented play by the name of Mr. Marmalade. Here is what the back of the program I received says: “In this grown-up play about playing grown-up, Lucy is a precocious four-year-old with an alarmingly adult imagination. Her imaginary friend Mr. Marmalade comes accessorized with cell phone, personal assistant and a very busy schedule, and when he misses their tea-party date (again), Lucy dumps him for the suicidal five-year-old next door. In a disturbingly funny whirlwind of food fights, porno mags, tea sets and cocaine habits, Lucy enacts a wild vision of adult dysfunction as seen through a child’s eyes..” I think it’s necessary to add to this because you’re probably going “What the hell is that all about?” So, here’s what the Houston Chronicle wrote: “Neglected by her single mother, precocious 4-year-old heroine Lucy has conjured up an imaginary friend who is as far from Peter Rabbit as one could imagine. Mr. Marmalade is a business tycoon too busy to make much time for the tea parties Lucy plans for him — given career pressures, a cocaine habit and his physical abuse of his personal assistant, Bradley, who keeps turning up in increasingly battered condition to apologize to Lucy for Mr. Marmalade’s absence. Mr. Marmalade’s involvement with Lucy, in fact, threatens to veer from the psychological abuse of neglect to physical mistreatment. Obviously, he is the repository of all the horrendous realities she has learned of adult behavior, whether from the grown-ups she’s encountered or from trashy TV. Larry, Lucy’s real-life, 5-year-old neighbor — and the youngest attempted suicide in New Jersey history (as the bandages on his wrists attest) — learns of Lucy’s situation and dares to rival Mr. Marmalade for her attention.” The play, along with the 15 minute intermission, lasted a little over 2 hours. Both acts happen in the living room, so the only props on the stage was a couch, a coffee table, a television, and two chairs. Oh, and the front door to their house was used as an entryway to “real-life” characters of the play. A giant thought bubble off to the left of the stage represented Lucy’s thoughts and that is where her imaginary friends entered the stage when they needed to. It was extremely humorous and very lewd, so if you’re sensitive to adult humor I don’t advise you to see this. I however thought it was the greatest play I’ve seen. I was in a theatre with about 100 other people so it was a very “up-close and personal” type of play, which just made it so much easier for me to become involved in it Most of the adult humor consisted of many, many curse words and sexual themes. Basically, it’s about a little girl being tugged into her imagination and what she sees as being an adult, and how the events that take place thrust her back into her 5 year-old childhood where she really belongs. After coming up with my full opinion on this, I give Mr. Marmalade four stars.