Phillyist Reviews... Greater Tuna

Back in Middle School, I was all about competing in speech tournaments. One of my favorite events? Readers' Theatre. One of the scripts that my middle school used for Readers' Theatre? Greater Tuna.

Not in its entirety, of course. Readers' Theatre, according to the rules we went by at least, could only be ten minutes long. Also, it probably wouldn't do for a bunch of twelve-year-olds to talk about cross-dressing, animal poisoning, and philanderers. What we were left with was a little radio station in Tuna Texas called WOKKK.

And that's where the Walnut Street Theatre's production of Greater Tuna (in its entirety) begins. Gone are the six tweens in suits holding binders. Instead, we have the versatile talents of Benjamin Lloyd and John Zak, who, aided by Alisa Sickora-Kleckner's costumes and (I hope!) a cadre of backstage dressers, take on all of the inhabitants of Tuna, Texas. All twenty of them who have speaking roles, that is.

Arguably the most impressive part of the whole production is the quickness with which Lloyd and Zak change characters offstage, adding and shedding not just layers of clothing, but layers of padding meant to represent body fat (and yes, breasts are body fat) in mere seconds. And with each costume comes a different character, humorously coached and developed by actor Madi Distefano, herself a talented character actress.

As for the play itself? It's good, silly fun with just a little bit of a dark side you can basically choose to ignore if it's not your cup of tea. It disparages my home state (I should note that not all stereotypes about Texas are true - but at the same time, I found myself more than once during the show thinking that one character or the other sounded a lot like a distant relative of mine), throws a laugh a minute (or more) at the audience, and allows us the kind of escapism that most "legitimate drama" doesn't. Arthur Miller it ain't, but nevertheless, attention must be paid. Perhaps in the form of a Barrymore.

Image via the Walnut Street Theatre website