Playwright: Kymberly Harris
At: Gorilla Tango Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Phone: 773-598-4549; $10
Through Feb. 8
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
The grass is always greener it seems—particularly for the symbolic American holy mother character in Kymberly Harris' skinny one-act drama, Bumping Umbrellas. Bored with her conventional marriage, Evie ( mistakenly called 'Eve' throughout ) is lured to become a double-crossing adulteress/whore by two symbolic forces frequently blamed for corrupting American values: the Devil and the French.
Harris' hour-long play is yet another tome commenting on the perpetual mother/whore stereotype labels applied to women and how the French seemingly have all the carefree savoir faire when it comes to desire and sex. In Bumping Umbrellas, Harris sets out to have fun exploring the divide while commenting on fantasy being the only true reality we face in life.
Yeah, yeah, but do we actually care about the fates of these symbolic figures? Are we suddenly more enlightened by this slender play about fidelity or the roles women get to play in life?
Let's just say that Bumping Umbrellas feels like Harris' college thesis assignment on symbolism in play writing. While Harris makes some interesting observations and playful jabbing at stereotypes, it reveals very little that hasn't been explored before.
Gorilla Tango's bare-bones production also does few favors for the material, particularly with director Ben Lasser's only-adequate staging and casting.
Carrie Hardin has fun as the va-va-voom French second-hand store-owner/prostitution-ring madam Nadja, though her exaggerated French accent frequently makes her dialogue unintelligible. Much better is Kyla Embrey as Evie. Embrey brings plenty of shifting colors ranging from indignation to self-doubt to her 'innocent' mother figure.
As the seductive lothario Lou Siffer ( get it!? ) , Michael Rigoli just doesn't push the right buttons to be sexy and menacing. Perhaps it's his overall sloppy appearance. ( Would you give up your marriage for a man whose shirttail sticks out constantly behind his striped charcoal jacket? ) Or maybe it's his forced and phony oozing of charm that gives him the aura of a poser in a bar with horrible pick-up lines.
For a show billing itself with a 'Rated R' rating, you would think the three-character Bumping Umbrellas might have bared some flesh or, at least, focused on a vicious bisexual love triangle to spice things up. More virtuoso dancing in the prologue and throughout would also have mixed things up creatively.
As it stands, Bumping Umbrellas leaves expectations unfulfilled. The grass is always deceptively greener, particularly in this tired and soggy patch of symbol-laden dramatic sod.