DISCUSSING GEORGE
at the Elbo Room
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All of this stimulates lots and lots and lots of talk–about Susan, about George, about pregnancy–most of it straining desperately to be funny and falling far short. During the course of the play it’s revealed that George is a hermaphrodite and pregnant too (yes, he did what many of us have been told to do at one time or another). This stimulates lots more talk, none of it funnier than the earlier talk, and none of it about the fact that it is impossible for a hermaphrodite to have a genetically identical twin brother who is not a hermaphrodite.
Not that Harshbarger should take all the blame for this tedious little play. Director Diane M. Honeyman must have had a hand in making this production what it is–though it’s hard to tell whether the actors’ inhibited interpretations of the material are the result of misdirection or lack of talent.
The good news is that even if the Theatre of the Bizarre never does get around to providing the sort of smart, stinging satire it should, its cabaret is at least diverting, energetic, and more fun than not. This is not to say that Steve Ginensky as Von Schtuppenvald and Jim Garner as Pepe (both dressed all in black, complete with dark glasses and black Left Bank berets) don’t try their darnedest to bring a little upper-middlebrow humor to the show.
