Review: 'Mercury Fur' at Imagined Life Theater

Playwright Philip Ridley has spent his career delving into the graphic.  Ridley’s futuristic drama, “Mercury Fur,” is certainly no exception.  In fact, the amount of sheer gore that dominates the action gives new meaning to the phrase “cutting edge.”

Needtheater, producers of the Los Angeles premiere of “Fur” at the Imagined Life Theater, is a boldly experimental group that is certainly not averse to taking risks. Sadly, “Fur” blurs the line between legitimate theater and torture porn.

Illuminated by Brandon Baruch’s crepuscular lighting, Adam Rigg’s burned-out set emblemizes a ravaged Britain where anarchy holds sway and thrill killings are routine.  The prevalent disorder has been accompanied, bizarrely, by a drift of hallucinogenic butterflies, avidly devoured by the benumbed and embattled populace.

Elliot (Edward Tournier) and his brother Darren (Andrew Perez)  have teamed with the ruthless Spinx (Greg Beam) to survive.  With the help of Spinx’s drag queen “sister,” Lola (Jeff Torres), the gang throws parties in which affluent clients live out their darkest fantasies.  Now, to satiate a repugnant Party Guest (creepily effective Kelly Van Kirk), they offer up a child (Ryan Hodge, whose participation makes us wonder what his parents were thinking) for torture and death.

The guileless and doomed Naz (Jason Karasev) and a mysterious Duchess (Nina Sallinen) complete the desperate contingent. It’s an appealing cast, led astray by director Dado, whose initially taut staging degenerates into a prolonged screaming match that aggravates the general gratuitousness. As for Ridley, he is an undeniably clever craftsman bent on sheer sensationalism. In that, he certainly succeeds.

-- F. Kathleen Foley

“Mercury Fur,” Imagined Life Theater, 5615 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles.  8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 5 p.m. Sundays.  Ends June 28.  $20.  (800) 836-3006. Running time:  2 hours.

Photo: Jason Karasev, left, Andrew Perez and Edward Tournier. Credit:  Adam Rigg

Comments

[Ryan]

Way to go LA Times. Another terribly written "review."

If you are going to comment positive or negatively on an aspect of a production, how about giving some examples. How did the director lead the cast astray?

How was the acting?

What the BLEEP does crepuscular mean?

You described the set design, but is it effective? Is it poor? Comment. Critic. Please write a real review. Somebody send the LA Times reviewers to critic school. Mr. McNulty, can you give them some lessons PLEASE?

[Linda]

It is a brave piece - like nothing I've ever seen. Who does this kind of work in LA. Yet the place was packed, obviously people are hungry for this kind of writing etc.

A fierce streak of humanity runs through all of the brutal action and that is what is so compelling.

[Fritz Lang]

Thank you, Ryan! Couldn't have said it better myself!

[James]

This is perhaps the first time I feel like as a viewer I understood a piece of theatre more than a critic. Is this a review? I saw a play with deep questions and a burning heart, well executed by a cast who was clearly not led astray... The thing that's unfortunate is that if a play is not understood, it can't be properly critiqued, and thus a whole audience is deprived of an experience. Clearly this "critic" mistook a courageous imagining of dystopia for "sheer sensationalism". Maybe it was the bad words or the violence. For those of you out there undecided, take in my stance: it's beautiful, not clever. Its terrifying, not sensational. And the cast is the best ensemble I've seen in LA.

[Marissa]

What an unintelligent response to this show, Ms. Foley. To take away nothing but "pure sensationalism" from Mercury Fur is really just too bad-- you clearly missed the point. I have lived in L.A. for 21 years and never seen a piece of theater in this city as brave as this. There is more truth and humanity in the "sensationalism" of this show than I have ever seen on a stage in this city.

[Elliot]

I'm wondering how many of these people who commented are somehow connected to this show. How many people who have already seen a show in LA go to read the LA Times review? Only those who are connected to it.

[linda]

I do.

[Jackson Keyes]

I believe the reviewer basically has it right here. It is a sensational piece of work that does not possess the courage of its tenuous convictions.