Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

There are all kinds of women and there are all kinds of mothers, however, as playwright and performer Anna Fishbeyn points out in her one-woman show Sex in Mommyville, now playing at The Flea Theater until August 29, the predominant stereotype of mothers is that of the too-tired-for-sex or just plain sexless woman. Movies such as Sex in the City, which she mentions, perpetuate this myth, a myth because Fishbeyn, herself, is not sexless or even tired. She is raring to go, and for much of the hour and a half of her aimless exploration of motherhood and sexuality she is desperately trying to get her husband, Zeus, to have sex with her.

Fishbeyn’s character, a mother of two young children, is writing an article for Bitch magazine on this very subject, and perhaps that’s what this show is: an article. A short, somewhat irrelevant trend piece. After about twenty minutes, her point—that mothers want to have sex too—has been made, and for the rest of the evening the audience is left watching thwarted sex attempts, overt sexual acts, and long feminist diatribes that don’t quite relate to the story. There’s no dramatic tension—unless you really care if Fishbeyn has sex with her boorish husband— and no journey for either the character or the audience.

As a performer, Fishbeyn is mostly cloying and awkward. Her only intriguing moments come when she performs a Russian folk song and dance, “Gypsy Ballad,” and when she plays her Russian mother.  While it would have been a different show entirely, I would have enjoyed the show more if there had been more Russian singing and dancing and more Russian characters.  These sections were at least lively and distinctive. Unfortunately, Fishbeyn’s other creations, her children and her husband Zeus, were grating and just plain stupid, respectively.

John McDermott’s elegant set design conveys a spacious New York City apartment with only a few set pieces, and the lighting, by Tim Pickerill, unobtrusively colors this interior. Although the piece never congeals into a cohesive whole, the direction by Sande Shurin is at least visually interesting, with a lot of movement for the sole actor.

Sex can be an interesting element or plot point to a story, but it is rarely appealing as a story itself.  As such, Sex in Mommyville does not have much to say and takes too long to say it.