Take the edge off your week with a bracing tonic of laughter and lunacy! Highlights in this evening of interwoven one-acts and sketches include a liberal journalist working for a right wing news program; an octogenarian stressing about the future of the planet; high-level government leakers in love; and a dry cleaner who might be our next president. What do they all have in common? Each is stuck in this strange new post-election world we live in. Open Fist Theatre Company at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90039; $15-$20; (323) 882-6912; www.openfist.org
Welcome to Your Alternative Reality
Reviews
This series of skits are akin to what one might see on Saturday Night Live, but they are more sophisticated in concept and delivery.
Having a big, hearty ironic laugh is a temporary antidote to feeling helpless. Open Fist Theatre Company's “Welcome to Your Alternate Reality” asks Americans to do just that: Buckle your seat belts, get ready for turbulence and have a big, ironic laugh, because there's a chance the next three-and-a-half years could take us on a one-way flight to oblivion.
Open Fist Theatre Company gives late-night-TV-style sketch comedy an entertaining go in Welcome To Your Alternative Reality, a more-hit-than-miss collection of Trump-era-inspired sketches that could stand a trim but serves as an often quite funny showcase for company members in SNL-meets-MadTV mode.
All told, it's an entertaining evening, with the promise of diversion from the twisted lunacy of today's headlines amply fulfilled, although more sketches with pointed political commentary would have been welcome.
Welcome to Your Alternate Reality is not subtle comedy, but rather in-your-face lampooning, akin to something one might see on “Saturday Night Live” only better, smarter and funnier. The short scripts are written and directed by Catherine Butterfield and Ron West, who go for broke. The comedy is sharp, insightful and very, very physical, bordering on slapstick. In brief, Open Fist has a triumph with this raucous evening of satire.
Butterfield and West effectively channel their frustration and anger into humor, with their fast-paced sketches covering a wide variety of current news, ranging from healthcare to peaceful protest to cyberattack. The duo keeps the message itself light-hearted, despite the show's biting undercurrent...The direction is sharp, well-paced, clean...So buckle up folks, we're in for one hell of a ride.
This series of skits are akin to what one might see on Saturday Night Live, but they are more sophisticated in concept and delivery.
Having a big, hearty ironic laugh is a temporary antidote to feeling helpless. Open Fist Theatre Company's “Welcome to Your Alternate Reality” asks Americans to do just that: Buckle your seat belts, get ready for turbulence and have a big, ironic laugh, because there's a chance the next three-and-a-half years could take us on a one-way flight to oblivion.
Open Fist Theatre Company gives late-night-TV-style sketch comedy an entertaining go in Welcome To Your Alternative Reality, a more-hit-than-miss collection of Trump-era-inspired sketches that could stand a trim but serves as an often quite funny showcase for company members in SNL-meets-MadTV mode.
All told, it's an entertaining evening, with the promise of diversion from the twisted lunacy of today's headlines amply fulfilled, although more sketches with pointed political commentary would have been welcome.
Welcome to Your Alternate Reality is not subtle comedy, but rather in-your-face lampooning, akin to something one might see on “Saturday Night Live” only better, smarter and funnier. The short scripts are written and directed by Catherine Butterfield and Ron West, who go for broke. The comedy is sharp, insightful and very, very physical, bordering on slapstick. In brief, Open Fist has a triumph with this raucous evening of satire.
Butterfield and West effectively channel their frustration and anger into humor, with their fast-paced sketches covering a wide variety of current news, ranging from healthcare to peaceful protest to cyberattack. The duo keeps the message itself light-hearted, despite the show's biting undercurrent...The direction is sharp, well-paced, clean...So buckle up folks, we're in for one hell of a ride.