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Peer Reviews my daddy’s name is Big Oil Reviewed by Craig Nolan Highley Entire contents are copyright © 2007, Craig Nolan Highley. All rights reserved.
In December 2005, the Showtime TV series Masters of Horror ran an episode called "Homecoming." It was a political satire masquerading as a horror film, in which American soldiers killed during an unpopular war started returning from the dead as rotting zombies with the sole purpose of voting George W. Bush out of office. That film was an exercise in subtlety compared to my daddy's name is Big Oil. Not a great play, but not a terribly bad one either, Finnigan Productions' latest offering is difficult to describe; heavy-handed is the first adjective that comes to mind. Political satire as farce, theater of the absurd, or gross-out comedy; quite frankly, your enjoyment of the show will greatly depend on your tolerance for extreme material. The original script by Brian D. Walker is not so much plot-driven as it is a series of ham-fisted jibes at the expense of the Bush administration and its ties to major oil companies. What little story there is revolves around a fresh-faced new government worker, John Alternative, hired by Mr. BigOilMan to work for the president (a thinly disguised George W. Bush clone). The first act is a series of vignettes charting John's descent from a person of conscience into another heartless government thug. The second act basically covers John's redemption. All of this is handled in a grab-bag of a script that throws everything the playwright could think of (take a polar bear; mix in a dash of executions, vomit, and urine; add a dollop of graphic sex; fold in some robots, aliens, racism, and homophobia; sprinkle lightly with some valid political points) into a blender and hits the "puree" button. And just when you think it couldn't get weirder, in walks Willie Nelson as a guardian angel! It all culminates in a Scooby-Doo (it would have worked if not for you meddling kids!) ending that had me cackling for the wrong reasons. As for the political commentary, there is nothing new presented here. The entire play is driven by talking points we have all heard before, and no new insight is given. There may have been a point to all of this five years ago, but now that Dubya is getting his lowest scores ever, it just seems recycled. Bush is bad. We get it. Now tell us something new. The cast is game, and all of the performances are first rate, but the material is seldom as clever as those involved seem to think it is; during the opening night performance I attended, quite frequently the only audience member laughing was the show's director, Chris Hartman. Nice. Ben Owens is excellent in the lead role of John. He brings a genuine innocence to the role, and his character is one of the few that actually evolves over the course of the show. Ted Lesley is hilarious with his dead-on impersonation of Bush, nicely countered by Briana Clemerson's vacuous turn as his wife. And in a brief but memorable appearance, Fred Fischer channels Willie Nelson to perfection. On the downside, the show employs a Greek Chorus that got on my nerves. It was an interesting idea, but it just doesn't work here. Their constant chanting and bizarre movements distracted from the rest of the play. Hartman's staging of this whole circus sometimes worked and sometimes did not. There were a couple of times when characters would wander out of sightlines for no apparent reason, and on the whole, the pacing seemed off. But other times the blocking was inspired; one particular sequence that had government agents chasing a rogue scientist around the entire theater was very funny. Though not without its flaws, my daddy's name is Big Oil has its moments, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a good time. The show is worth seeing for its sheer audacity alone, and if nothing else it does succeed on those terms.
my daddy's name is Big Oil Finnigan Productions Starring Ben Owens, Tad Chitwood, Leah Roberts, Erin Crites, Ted Lesley, Briana Clemerson, Angela Walker, Fred Fischer, Shaun Kenney, Matthew Lynch, Erica McClure, Kelly Kapp, Vanessa Ferguson, Sarah East, Eli Keel, Eric Welch
finniganproductions@gmail.com Posted July 21, 2007
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