Theatre Askew's HORSEPLAY: or, The Fickle Mistress is Getting RAVES!

Alexis Soloski reviews HORSEPLAY for The New York Times:

"Ms. Pope, an assured performer with a brazen alto, shines in the role, changing her accent and identity even more often than her bloomers. “I’m whoever I need to be,” Adah tells a lover. With brio and brass, Ms. Pope is, too."

Read the full review HERE.

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Michael Niederman reviews HORSEPLAY for New York Theatre Review:

"[Molly] Pope owns the stage in her presentation of Menken...All of the Askew company play multiple parts, sometimes more than one in the same scene.  Some standouts include  Tiffany Abercrombie, who plays the corpulent Alexandre Dumas and an Ugg-A-Wug Native American Bride, Tim Cusak as both dandy and Jew, Evertt Quinton as the scariest drag queen I’ve ever seen, and Chuck Montgomery as Meknen’s long beleaguered manager and only friend."

"Horseplay remains a vital window into not just one woman’s multiple lives, but also the history of the 19^th century, a time period in which the entire western world was trying on multiple personas, trying which one would fit best."

Read the full review: HERE

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Raven Snook gives HORSEPLAY 3-stars in Time Out New York:

" [Molly] Pope is marvelous, fluidly changing accents and outfits in front of our eyes (costumes, wigs, props and set pieces are all in full view), belting out a few numbers in her smoky voice and maintaining charm when delivering some very dark punch lines. "

"Produced by Theatre Askew, Horseplay is scrappy, campy and all over the place, much like its heroine." 

Read the full review HERE.

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Talkin' Broadway's Howard Miller on HORSEPLAY:

"Under Elyse Singer’s zippy direction, the versatile troupe of actors play multiple roles, often making head-spinning rapid character and gender switches as they relate the varied takes on Menken’s biography in a wildly exaggerated style that reflects her wildly exaggerated story telling. These include Tiffany Abercrombie, Tim Cusack (Theatre Askew’s artistic director), Jan Leslie Harding, Chuck Montgomery, Everett Quinton, and Mark St. Cyr — all of them excellent."

"Molly Pope, in whose acting you’ll find traces of Barbra Streisand, Gilda Radner, Mae West, Carol Burnett, and Bette Midler — [is] a perfect embodiment of the charisma and wit of a woman determined to make her way in what was most certainly a man’s world."

Read the full review HERE.

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Zachary Stewart covered HORSEPLAY for TheaterMania.

"There is no more delightful way to learn about Menken than Trav S.D.'s Horseplay: or, The Fickle Mistress, a Protean Picaresque, now being presented by Theatre Askew at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre."

"The six-person ensemble plays a dramatis personae of seeming thousands, with each performance as over-the-top and committed as the last."

"[Molly] Pope bites into this role, luxuriating in all of Menken's ridiculous contradictions and unapologetic thespianism."

Read the full review HERE.

La MaMa in association with Theatre Askew present

HORSEPLAY:

or, The Fickle

Mistress

by Trav S. D.

directed by Elyse Singer

February 13 - March 1, 2015

The Ellen Stewart Theatre

66 East 4th Street

(between Bowery and 4th Street)

New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

6 Questions: Director Elyse Singer

Elyse Singer is directing the world premiere of Trav S. D.'s HORSEPLAY: or, the Fickle Mistress, which begins performances on February 13 at The Ellen Stewart Theater.  Elyse took time out from rehearsals to answer our 6 Questions:

1. How did you get involved in HORSEPLAY: or, the Fickle Mistress?
I have known Trav S.D. since the mid-90s, and Tim Cusack almost that long. In 2011, they asked me to direct a reading at ART/NY of the first draft of the Horseplay as part of Theatre Askew's Drafting Table series, and we've continued collaborating on the play's development since then.

2. Did you know much about Adah Isaacs Menken prior to working on HORSEPLAY?
Very little! I had first heard the name "Mazeppa" in reference to the burlesque stripper in Gypsy ("You Gotta Have a Gimmick"), and had read snippets about Menken in my studies of women in nineteenth-century American popular performance, but otherwise knew almost nothing about her. I've devised plays previously about Courtney Love, Mae West, Hedy Lamarr, and Eva Tanguay...but they really owe it all to Menken.

3. How would you describe the tone/style of HORSEPLAY?
Lately, I'm calling it a "comedy-spectacle." It's very much informed by ridiculosity and the spirit of Charles Ludlam, broadly funny and aware of its place in the universe of high art and mass culture, especially the tradition of bio-pics. Horseplay wants to be a musical like Funny Girl, but it's not allowed to be, and that's a source of comic tension. We have the most extraordinary ensemble of comedic actors.

4. Who has inspired your work as a director?
When I was just starting out as a director, I saw a play called Femme Fatale in Edinburgh by a British writer-director-performer named Debbie Isitt and her company, the Snarling Beasties. The piece just punched me in the gut in the ways that it mixed heightened language, sexuality and comedy. It was so smart and sexy and physical...I had the pleasure of directing a reading of it with Jefferson Mays as one of my first directing projects. I'm inspired also by the work of Elizabeth LeCompte and Emily Mann. I'm ever-fascinated by the effects of technology on human communication and emotional connection, and enjoy exploring this idea both on the sci-fi-ish and the burlesque ends of the spectrum.

5. What was the last good book you read?
My bookshelf is filled with some amazing books related to this project -- nineteenth-century spectacle-extravaganzas, the development of American popular culture and music, the origins of photography and moving pictures, gender theory, queer theory, farce, Byron, melodrama, scenography, animal studies, history of striptease... Oh, fiction? I'm still working on Jonathan Lethem's Dissident Gardens, which is set in my neighborhood! Hope to finish it soon.

6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you?
This is my first time directing in the Ellen Stewart Theatre, and it's a great honor. I last worked here as the stage manager for Lee Nagrin's Dragon's Nest, which was such a formative experience. It's also the ideal venue for Horseplay as the space is so integral to the history of popular theatre in the United States. We're excited to bring equestrian spectacle back to the neighborhood!

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La MaMa presents
HORSEPLAY: 
or, The Fickle Mistress, 
A Protean Picaresque
by Trav S.D.
directed by Elyse Singer

February 13 - March 1, 2015

The Ellen Stewart Theatre
66 East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; ten tickets priced at $10 each are available, in advance only, for every performance - first come, first served

For Tickets & Info: Click Here