Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

This is a favorite theatre group of mine as they are often fearless in their choice of material and presentation. "Shopping and Fucking" while a difficult play to watch was incredibly well done.

I would love to say the same thing about "Snake in the Fridge" directed by Blake Lawrence. It was entertaining and there were elements that make it worthwhile for non-traditional theatergoers yet there were too many cast choices that did not hit the mark.

This show is worth seeing if only for the performance of Susan O'Connor as the "mentally challenged sister". Her portrayal of Donna, a young woman with a history of abuse who came close to being killed by her own brother is quite amazing. She manages to keep her emotions always on the surface whether she is being comically inappropriate or revealing her past. She somehow conveys touching innocence as she speaks about her sexual abuse. Susan O'Conner is a performer worth watching out for.

Sean Baldwin as Charles a man in a midlife crisis who comes to be drawn to the house for inexplicable reasons is quite compelling as a man with his own unexplored past.

Much of the cast is fully competent with the exception of Matthew J. Nichols as Corbett. While a fully engaging and fearless actor he suffers from being completely unbelievable in his role. Not his fault, he was miscast. The character is a steroid taking bodybuilder nude dancer, with a party drug problem. Mr. Nichols is tiny and not muscular. This makes scenes such as his being injected with steroids laughably ludicrous. In another role I can see this performer excelling, however his physical type makes much of what he has to say unbelievable.

Another rather odd choice is Gabriel Grilli who is supposed to represent the lust image of the older Violet (Mimi Bilinski) as well as that of a younger woman Stacey (Angela Ai). With his silly hairstyle and general physicality is very difficult to imagine that he attracts the lust of an older successful woman. (Think Alexis Colby lusting after Gilligan and you get the picture.)

I want to give away as little as possible, the best elements are the little twists and turns to the absurd story of a house, a snake, internet porn and a host of unusual characters.

The set and design work are very well done as is the use of video. Kate VanDevender did a lovely job of giving the actors touches of Canada in their speech to set the locale while avoiding comic exaggeration.

The overall effect was creepy, odd and somewhat entertaining. It could however have been so much more.