Loving the Wendy MacLeod play The House of Yes and its subsequent film adaptation, I knew deep inside my bones that MacLeod’s satirical black comedy Schoolgirl Figure was bound to impress. And impress it does in its East Coast premiere by Cherry Red Productions. Only a writer with MacLeod’s dexterity could get away with skewering our culture’s body image obsession by way of mocking high school girls with eating disorders, and only a company such as Cherry Red could make Schoolgirl Figure seem thematically tame by comparison to its generally shock-focused body of work.
Paul Donnelly directs teen actors in the leading roles of Renee (Sica Nielsen), Patty (Rachyl Felty) and Jeanine (Emerie Snyder), whose clique lives (and dies) by rules of deprivation that entitle them to date the school hottie known as The Bradley (Ryan Fearson). Felty and Snyder show exceptional flair for MacLeod’s super-cynical style, and Judith Baicich — a charmer in recent Purchased Experiences Don’t Count productions of Duranged and Harm’s Way — makes subversively hysterical work of several random characters MacLeod sprinkles delightfully throughout the play.
Through July 27th at Metro Café, 1522 14th Street NW. Tickets are $15. Call 202-298-9077. Visit www.cherryredproductions.com.
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