exerpt from The Eye Weekly--reviewed by Joanne Huffa
THE HOUSE OF YES
Featuring Chloë Whitehorn, Kevin Robinson, Tabitha Keast. Written by Wendy
MacLeod. Directed by Ingrid Keenan.
"Your life, only not." This is the basis of recently founded Fishbowl Theatre's mandate. It is also a suitable
description of Wendy MacLeod's dark comedy, The House of Yes, a witty look at the life of a very unusual family. The story begins when eldest son Marty (Kevin Robinson) brings his fiancée, Lesly (Melissa Allen), home to meet
his family. But this isn't the simple task it should be, because Marty's family includes his unbalanced twin sister, with whom he has an incestuous relationship, and a mother whose philosophy of life includes the belief that
"You raise cattle -- children just happen." The House of Yes
is a deceptively difficult play. Marty's twin, Jackie-O, is a medicated mess, obsessed with her brother and the Kennedy assassination. Chloë Whitehorn plays her with enough neurosis so that we see things are not "normal" from the outset, but without turning her into a raving lunatic. Jackie-O is a great character, and Whitehorn embraces the role. The same can be said for Tabitha Keast's portrayal of the mother who encourages her children's relationship and treats her youngest son, Anthony (Shawn Reynolds), like a hired hand. Keast has the look of an undernourished socialite, and plays the matriarch with a suitably detached coolness.
The Fringe Harold, Friday July 14, 2000
(In response to the Tales From the Fringe about a show in which
during a blackout a live goldfish is switched with a fake one which is then killed, mangled, kicked across the stage, etc... On opening night someone forgot to switch the fish and so the cast made a quick decision, noting that the
show must go on, and killed the real goldfish.)
Dear Harold,
We at Fishbowl Theatre are deeply saddened by the death of Mr. and Mrs. Magpie's
actor-fish Goldie. In memorial to Goldie's ultimate sacrifice for art, Fishbowl Theatre will be dedicating our production of Wendy MacLeod's The House of Yes at the Alumnae Theatre Upstairs August 17-26 to Goldie.
Oh, that we all had the guts to make the sacrifice that Goldie did. The show must go on.
For more information on Fishbowl Theatre please visit our website at: https://members.tripod.com/fishbowltheatre
My deepest sympathies,
Sid Fishious (official mascot of Fishbowl Theatre)
