Review: Intiman's Disjointed BOOTYCANDY Ends with Power

I'll admit that during Act One of the final show for this year's Intiman Theatre Festival, "Bootycandy", I kept thinking, "What the hell am I watching?" It was interesting and funny but felt disjointed with so many disconnected scenes. But by the end when they pulled them all together and I saw where they were going I was able to grab hold of that "aha" moment that you don't always get in theater.

The play is an inside look at a young man named Sutter (Tyler Trerise) as he grows up gay and black in the 80's and 90's. Filled with outrageous church services, gossiping ladies, gay bars and seedy motels it ventures through Sutter's life as he discovers who he is.

At least that's what the short synopsis would have you believe. But the play ventures off into a kind of surreal realm of a sitcom like comedy but with an edge. It feels almost as a parody of those kinds of plays until it ultimately ends up as a kind of deconstruction of them. And it was up until that deconstruction that I wondered where this play was heading until they pulled on that thread that brought everything together and then tore it all apart and that edge resolved into a kind of indictment. I don't want to say too much more about it lest I give it all away but the deconstruction of it all really sent the message home for me. I just wish I hadn't been so confused earlier.

Trerise keeps all of the insanity flowing yet together nicely and has a wonderful arc for his character throughout. Angel Brice and Rebecca M. Davis are hilarious as the gossiping telephone ladies and each have a fantastic turn at playing Sutter's mother. Isaiah Johnson gives several superb performances throughout especially as the Pastor coming out of his personal closet and Sutter's no nonsense Grandmother. And Chris Ensweiler turns in a stunning performance as a drunken man looking to explore himself sexually that was both hilarious and heartbreaking.

Author Robert O'Hara has done something that usually annoys me and turned it into the fascinating. He's taken what could be someone else's therapy on stage and shone a spotlight on it for being just that and created an amazing journey out of it. And so with my three letter rating system I was prepared to give it a simple MEH for its scattered nature but now give it a YAY for its brilliant deconstruction of itself. And it's not a small feat to get me to like someone else's therapy.

"Bootycandy" from the Intiman Theatre Festival performs at the Alhadeff Studio at The Cornish Playhouse through October 3rd. For tickets or information visit them online at www.intiman.org.

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