Fringe Festival: Riding the Bull

Things weren't going so well for GL Mitchell, the hero of August Schulenburg's sharp, exceedingly odd and genuinely funny play, Riding the Bull, currently being presented by the Riot Actors of Washington as part of the Capital Fringe Festival. The unlikeliest of rodeo clowns, GL's a simple Catholic boy living in a small town in Texas who just wants his poor, crazy, Elvis-loving mother to be happy. But the guy doesn't really have a clue, and his penchant for the ladies of the Sears catalog have made him so randy he's actually lost his job and been ex-communicated from the Church. But everything starts to change when he hooks up with Lyza, the buxom town troublemaker. Thanks to some "magic" that seems to result from their oft-angry lovemaking, the two become wealthy overnight — and that's when it all predictably starts to go from bad to slightly better to much, much worse.

The plot of Riding the Bull is just as strange and unbelievable as it sounds, and we haven't even gotten to the cow who wears costumes, nativity scenes turned into orgies, and replica Graceland, complete with maybe-he-is-maybe-he-isn't the real Elvis. It also ends up switching from bizarre to downright sinister toward the end, and the whole thing might easily fall apart were it not for the strength of its excellent cast, consisting of locals Jason McCool (last seen in Forum's The Last Days of Judas Iscariot) and Kate Debelack (Studio's Fat Pig). The duo manage to insert real heart into a pair of characters who don't otherwise have a lot to recommend them, and despite the number of times the audience must awkwardly sit through McCool bending Debelack over and grinding her from behind, we can't to see what happens next.

Singer and banjo player Curtis Eller is also used to good effect to set the mood during a pre-show concert and mid-show break. If anything, it would have been nice to see Eller interject a bit more during the actual performance. If the whole thing is about God in the end, why can't God play the banjo?

Riding the Bull has one remaining performance on Saturday, July 25 at 6:45 p.m. at The Bodega at The Trading Post (1013 7th Street NW). Tickets can be purchased online for $15 each.