TRUTHS AND MIRRORS // A THEATRE REVIEW OF "THE BIG FUNK"

BY MATEO MORENO

Less than a month after John Patrick Shanley’s newest play, the charmer Outside Mullingar, closed on Broadway, New York audiences are treated to a lost Shanley gem.  I say “lost” because it was lost to me.  Somehow, his 1990 play THE BIG FUNK had completely bypassed my radar.  So it’s with great pleasure that I can thank Nylon Fusion Theatre Company for introducing this strange, odd, and beautiful play to me.  The Big Funk tells several different tales all at once, interweaving them by the end of the evening.  Jill (Ivette Dumeng) begins the evening speaking directly to the audience (a device that the characters use often) telling them who she is, and how she is not the hero of the play, but a coward and self destructive.  She flirts with a man in a bar named Gregory (Paul Walling) who treats her like dirt and literally rubs Vaseline on her face.  Next up is Omar (Josh Sienkiewicz), a man who throws knives and sometimes treats his wife Fifi (Meghan Jones) like his own personal assistant.  She interrupts his day to day by announcing that they’re going to have a baby.  Two babies!  Tomorrow!  This does not go over as well as she had hoped.  And then there’s Ausin (Jacob Troy) an out of work actor who sees the wounded Jill and wants to help her, wants to feel as if he’s doing something good in the world.  Don’t we all?

The Big Funk (which is playing in rep with Don Nigro’s A Snowfall in Berlin) is an odd mixture of absurdist comedy and drama, individual scenes mixing into a bigger ensemble piece.  All of which builds up to a play that doesn’t feel like every day fare, and truly has some beautiful things to say.  I can only imagine countless companies reading this script and scratching their heads furiously, wondering how they can stage such a challenging piece and still hit all the necessary cords.  Luckily for us, Nylon Fusion doesn’t seem to have faced that problem as the play, directed by Lori Kee, moves along effortlessly, consistently engaging you and pulling you into inspired directions.

The cast of five are all exceptional; Jacob Troy is heartfelt and tender.  He nary raises his voice yet always immediately captures your attention.  Here is an actor that can truly draw you in with just the tone of his voice.  Ivette Dumeng gives a powerful portrait of a woman in crisis.  It’s uncomfortable to watch her dinner date sequence (aided by a richly dark performance by Paul Walling) and you can’t help but smile as she finds Austin, or they find each other, and begins to heal.  Her performance is delicate, truthful, and raw, and she encompasses all of it, often with just a fading look.  Josh Sienkiewicz’s Omar is a complete bag of thoughts, feelings worn on his sleeve (and dripping out of his mouth), and deep inside a tender and loving man, unsure of how to respond to almost anything.   I don’t think I’ve seen a performance like his in a good long while, meaning that he often says terrible things but showcases so many hidden thoughts and ideas that we lay deep within ourselves.  As his wife, Meghan Jones is a firecracker of energy from the very get go.  In an ensemble of brooding characters, Jones’s energy is a welcome addition at every turn.  Each actor (with the chilly exception of the dark turn taken by Walling) brings a warmth and though provoking tenderness to their roles.  Add in music (and sound effects) by the band “The Roly Polys” (who sing a very witty “scene change song”) and you’ve got yourself an incredibly unique piece of theatre.  The Big Funk has a lot to say.  It preaches without being preachy.  It’s self aware without being self indulgent.  And it touches on human nature in a raw, beautiful way.  See it.  See the funk.

MATEO’S GRADE: A-

Directed by: Lori Kee  Written By: John Patrick Shanley Starring: Jacob Troy, Ivette Dumeng, Josh Sienkiewicz, Meghan Jones, Paul Walling. Now through April 6th, 2014 at La Tea @ Clemente Soto Velez, NYC. For tickets: http://bigfunk.brownpapertickets.com/

Content Advisory: Language and Nudity.

BOTTOM LINE:  A play that gives you questions that don’t always get answered can be a frustrating one or it can be inspired.  Here, we have inspired.