Fringe Festival: Immoral Combat
Immoral Combat takes place in and around a fast paced newsroom, but it is quickly apparent that the Fringe entry will be going nowhere fast. We follow the tribulations of the staff of Worldwide Broadcasting, a satire presumably of Voice of America, the federal broadcasting service and previous place of employment of the playwright, Rachael Bail. But the satire, a parody of Bail’s real life experiences as a journalist, offers few actual laughs. The short scenes cut in and out, every one punctuated by a full fade to black, aiming to impart a gravity to the story that’s not quite there.
It’s a predictable tale that at times tells a believable story of the chaos of reporting the news, as the cast prepares their daily broadcast amid office politics, love affairs, Chinese food, sexual discrimination lawsuits, and a hot headed, foul mouthed chief editor. The plot slowly trudges along, walking through the dramas and mini dramas of the characters' daily lives. There's no huge conflict at the end to resolve. Instead, we're left with a "dramatic" finale, with the three lead actresses offering monologues on their scrappy career choices.
The acting is largely competent, with Bronwyn Mathis standing out in a supporting role as Mary, newbie writer and chief editor Larry's (James Svatko) lover. But lines are often swallowed, stumbled over and hard to hear, even though the play previously ran at the Alden Theater in McLean with several of the same actors. As the cast listens to the unlikable and always swearing Larry tell off his colleagues and resign at the office holiday party, the overdone backslapping and feigned toasting, transitioning into exaggerated pointing with mouths agape, are reminiscent of the background blocking of a middle school production.
And while a writer is entitled to a certain degree of artistic license, there are a few too many bothersome pieces to brush under the table, such as the cleaning lady who on multiple occasions and out of nowhere waltzes in with her vacuum and mouths off to the protagonist about her lame news job. The play is seemingly set in 2008, yet the pompous, dismissive, black female Vice President who tells reporters to go fuck themselves seems out of place. Who does she think she is? Dick Cheney?
Immoral Combat (directed by Ely Baumel-Lamonica; approx. 70 min.) is at the Warehouse Theater-Mainstage Sat., July 18 at 11:30 p.m., July 19 at 7 p.m., and July 26 at 4:15 p.m. Tickets are available online