SOLID LEGS: 'Hysteria!' is a funny and worthwhile history lesson
This article, and this show, include discussion and description of a sexual nature
Hysteria! opens sans curtain speech, but with a recorded Siri-inspired cell phone reminder, with humor and a history lesson. This is a theme that carries through the show, a history lesson of “popular” opinions regarding women’s treatment, medical and political, delivered with humor.
The main rag opens to Steven Marcinowski as Adam sitting on the stage like an infant smashing rocks together. From behind the center stage tree, which remains a background fixture throughout, a snake puppet emerges, apple in mouth, attempting to coax Adam, who appears to lack the gift of language. Jesslyn Wilson (co-writer and co-director) as Eve emerges to address and be coaxed by the snake, and… you know the rest. At one point, “God” says to Eve dismissively, “snakes can’t talk,” to which she responds, “and the sky can?” This line puts a tone in your head, but isn’t the full tone of the show.
The show rotates through time and place, from the dawn of man, to an early 2000s high school creative writing class (and a distant future Star Warsian soap opera/grocery store romance novel), to a Victorian witch-hunt (with scandalous ankle reveals), to modern-day settings.
Throughout the show the history lessons continue (and most densely presented) in the scene featuring the “fathers” of modern medical science. In Statler and Waldorf puppet gallery form, they discuss their respective expertise, all including “hysteria” (aka, whatever they didn’t understand, especially regarding those of the female compulsion) being a “women’s issue.”
Photos by Ashley Marshall.
As the show drifts into modern spaces, it splits. The themes are there, the history is there, but the reality TV scene splits the show distinctly down a trip into the absurd. On the other track, we find ourselves in a women’s health clinic, with a patient who prefers a synonym, avoiding discussion of a man, and is cagey about calling family or friends. This is juxtaposed with an older woman, involved in a “suddenly” spicy book club, who has been having issues contacting her daughter.
The show wraps by wrapping up every era in various empowering ways, and I feel it finds a conclusion across the board. While some pieces are male-critical, the bulk of the show feels like a history lesson, in a fun and disingenuous way.
From a critical perspective:
The show is long: About an hour and 20 minutes with no intermission. Some of this is the logistics of North Front Theatre, and getting the audience in and out makes an intermission more of a challenge. But also, it being a first-run show, where the writers are directing and performing in it, unfortunately removes that extra set of eyes to tighten things up.
Overall: It's campy, funny, touching in some places, and a little daring in others. This show has legs; it just needs some zhuzhing, like any other show. But I liked it, and you should see it.
Hysteria! An Original Play runs one more weekend (Thursday-Sunday, Nov 12-15) at the North Front Theatre. You can find tickets here.
