Venus in Fur dominates in humor and surprise

When Actor’s Express announced their 26th season I was excited about many things, two of them being: a show about sex and power – Venus in Fur, directed by David Crowe–, and finally seeing Veronika Duerr on stage. What I didn’t expect: that a show about these two ideas could be female dominated (yay theatre for finally being feminist!), and that it would be so funny. And though it lived up to its description of “sexy, smart, and stirring”, it had a few pitfalls along the way, that were admittedly no fault of the performers.

Here’s the scene: an actress walks into a auditioning room for the title roll in Venus in Fur, she is surprising in herself, a citified, accented, and rough around the edges chick who can swiftly go into the demure and mannered character the adapter of the play desperately needs and wants. Which then ensues into a cat and mouse game of seductee and seductress with a play within a play set up. But, of course, there is a twist, nothing is as coincidental as it all seems.

Here’s the review in a nutshell size, since really, you just need to see it so I don’t spoil the surprise ending: Veronika Duerr plays the Vanda of all Vandas. And as I’m sure the writer, David Ives, intended, Duerr’s Vanda lead the show by a collar and leash. She was hilarious and brash, crude and yet, incredibly appealing. She taunted and teased and had no restraint on proving herself as a force to be reckoned with. Her toe to toe foreplay partner, Thomas, was played by Adam Fristoe. And by the looks of his gratitude and graciousness during their bows, he was more than happy to be playing counterpart to this powerful female who was totally about to eat him alive. Fristoe’s Thomas was cool and assholey at first. He had his doubts about this woman, and about what she, a little lady who can’t control her mouth, could do for him. But as the surprise and shock faded, a new devotion ensued as the characters in the internal play courted and befell to each others needs for power and sex. And oh, would he fall… to his knees… tied up… screaming…

There was no stumble on the performance itself, the actors were amazing, the set worked perfectly, the interchangeable costumes added to each minor character split. But there was an issue with timing. Not humor based, but length based. There was no intermission, which is completely understandable for a shorter show, and I usually prefer a intermission-less show. But for a show like this one, where the audience is watching a play within another play, and the action is bouncing back and forth between the two scripts, there is just a bit of repetition. And like with all repetition, it should probably happen a limited amount. As the same cycle continued between the characters and with no real change in action or reaction the joke’s waned, people started to shift in their seats, and the need for an ending to happen became desperate. The answer: maybe perform a little snippity snip. Luckily the end is a bang. As it all comes together at a rapid pace you start to wonder what you are actually seeing and then you will know that you weren’t the only person in the room fooled by a woman in lingerie. Alas, maybe this play wasn’t so feminist after all.

Bow down to this show of sexual roles. Venus in Fur is running till October 6 at Actor’s Express. For ticket information visit, http://www.actors-express.com.