GREATER TUNA
A lot of what I would have thought was hilarious in high school seems tedious now. Especially comedies like Greater Tuna that depend so much upon wildly distorted stereotypes for their humor. This kind of mean-spirited, hopelessly intolerant comedy just isn’t as funny as the play’s coauthors–Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard–seem to think it is. Even when the people they make fun of are the crew of bigots and small-minded folk who populate Tuna, the third smallest town in Texas.
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Which is a shame, because Brent Briscoe and John Hawkes, who portray all 20 or so characters in the play, certainly work very hard for the handful of laughs they get, performing miraculous costume changes and creating distinct and convincing characters along the way. Interestingly enough, both the heavyset Briscoe and the very thin Hawkes are at their best when they’re in drag. Briscoe’s portrayal of Pearl and her more sympathetic sister Bertha is uncanny and very funny, although Briscoe has clearly borrowed a few licks from Jonathan Winters. Hawkes’s bitchy Vera Carp is wonderful. It’s hard not to wonder what this pair of talented comic actors would have been able to do with a better script. Just as it’s hard not to ask whether there’s anything sadder in theater than watching a couple of actors killing themselves to make a show seem funnier and better than it really is–and failing.
