Hip Shot: “The Quick Brown Fox Jumped Over The Lazy Dogs”
The Quick Brown Fox Jumped Over the Lazy Dogs
Redrum at Fort Fringe
Remaining performances:
Sunday, July 19th, 12:00p.m.
Friday, July 24th, 9:30p.m.
Saturday, July 25th, 9:30p.m.
Sunday, July 26th, 12:00p.m.
They say: This funny, political satire about language explores how we communicate and ‘mis-underestimate’ each other. Guided by works of Lewis Carroll and Donald Rumsfeld and inspired by messages of fear and hope, the play reveals the ’sub’ and ‘con’ of ‘text.’
Brett’s take: This is the thing. The thing that stirs the hearts and minds of true Americans. We who hold these times in our hands, we who face hardships from the fruited plains to the mountains’ majesty, we must rise to the challenge of the thing. You know the thing, right? Of course you do, because like all Americans, you believe in something patriot forefathers economic recovery hope.
Language is some f***ed up s***. Between Orwell and Obama, Lewis Caroll’s Humpty Dumpty, and George W. Bush’s State of the Union, it can prove as often a deadly trap as a means to inspire a nation. In the 13 varied vignettes that wry writer Matt Marrino Michael Merino has alertly assembled and ferried to Fringe after its appearance at Page-to-Stage, the uses, misuses, abuses, disabuses, ruses, muses, tenses and tensions of language and its rocky on-again off-again relationship with the truth are explored and exploded for our entertainment and edification.
It’s the most fun and enjoyable hour of having your very concept of everyday life and communication knocked down and spat upon since David Ives’ All in the Timing.
“Come on,” you say. “Do I need to watch a show about these things?” Sure you do. These things are your life. You’re using these things right now. Right here, on this thing right in front of your things! I’m using them to try and get you to see the show, because I probably think you will be entertained and therefore I will use these things to try and get you to go be entertained! “We all know Bush and Rumsfeld said some weird things,” you say. Ah, but this show has multiple targets in its sights. In gets in digs at corporate logic. A dig or three at the language of playwriting itself. Some nice subtle digs at Obama (maybe)(no)(yes). Even some digs at me, the respondent trying to review this show “afterward.” You are reading something right now that was dug at by the thing that the thing you’re reading was written about. What does that make you?!
Also, the actors are good and the direction is good and the lighting is doubleplusgood except sometimes the cues are like totally off.
See it if: You hvae eevr mrleaevd at the conuvelotd lngagaue of cphrgoiyt ntoecis, lgael dlicesmairs, or tivsleioen avsmrtendeeits, and jsut had to lgauh.
Skip it if: You have understood every word ever said to you and are never swayed by even the most skilled use of rhetoric.
7 Comments
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5:22 pm
I’m glad to see you enjoyed the play and hope your review inspires people to give it a look. One quick (brown?) note, though… the playwright is actually Michael Merino, not Matt Marrino.
5:32 pm
Astute review. I saw the show this weekend, too, and really enjoyed it. Glad you note that the satire was directed at all kinds of communication and politicians, even though the Obama allusions appear hagiographic at first. BTW, the playwright’s name is Michael Merino.
5:59 pm
Mea culpa! I was transcribing it from the program, and for some reason decided that Michael Merino would be better named Matt Marrino.
6:52 pm
Thanks, Burt, I mean Brett, for the thoughtful and positive review. I always liked the name Matt. I think we have a new “afterward” for the next performance. Glad you enjoyed the show.
p.s. Now if you just change the tags, your review will bear fruit in the plains and make the mountains more majestic. Truthiness … brilliant association.
1:40 am
I saw “Quick Brown Fox” at the Fringe Festival last weekend and it was brilliant. The cast was excellent and delivered the insightful and comic lines with precision. Many of the plays I have seen at the fringe over the years tend to be extended silly sketches with no larger point. Not this play, which was cleverly written by Michael Merino and is expertly directed by Kerri Rambow. The work is smart and deals with very important issues of our time: how language is manipulated by politicians and how facts are misrepresented by the media. During the performance, I found myself listening very closely to decipher what is being said and determine what is not being said. The production underscores the important responsibility of being a skeptical yet informed citizen. Go see it. You will enjoy this entertaining and thought-provoking play.
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