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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Myth of the Ostrich Also see Richard's review of Mrs. Krishnan's Party
The play is written by Matt Murray, and this is its U.S. premiere. It was first produced in 2014 at the Toronto Fringe Festival by Offside Productions. (In 2015 it was staged at the Toronto's Next Stage Festival, and it came to the attention of Upstream Theater after it was more recently produced in Poland.) And all our bitterest privations are swept aside now, by this 90-minute show at the Marcelle Theatre, thanks to three wildly talented actresses. They clash together in all sorts of ways, frequently madcap and very silly, and a newfound sense of freedom comes draped in frequent laughter. Pam, a cloistered mother (Jenelle Gilreath Owens, in a highly inspired turn), is arduously freed from everything she believes to be normal in her own straight-laced life. In the process, her two new "free spirited" friends are humbled by her struggles. But mainly the cast goes mad in the trippy lighting of Denisse Chavez on Patrick Huber's increasingly chaotic set, featuring a pair of eye-catching floor lamps, sourced by prop master Rachel Seabaugh. Pam has been uprooted from Green Bay to Boston by her husband, and pays a call on Holly (the ultra-naturalistic Wendy Renée Greenwood). She's the other mother in the play, a writer. And one of the most visceral actresses in town, Pamela Reckamp, is a firecracker as Holly's friend Cheryl, a "Southie" from the Irish side of town. The point is, it all upends my very shaky theory about women's drama, that someone must always "Be Told Off" in the end (Mame, Relative Values, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Tale of the Apothecary's Wife). Myth of the Ostrich is a play in which each woman tells herself off, in strange and unexpected ways. And, on a totally different but equally important note, this show also breaks my theory about chamomile tea, that it always must be poured out (in plays like Tea and Sympathy) but that nobody in the scene ever actually drinks it. Surprises, even in a very simple story that's acted out in hypnotic hi-def. The circumstances are familiar, but made fresh by very bright performances and by director Paradise. A grouchy writer (Ms. Greenwood) blows off steam, and an unexpected guest arrives, one whose son goes to the same school as hers. And then the writer's drug dealer friend pops in, showing us what "accident does to artifice, seconds out of the gate" (to quote from Anthony Schaffer). The script resembles Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? a bit, in that a character must repeatedly be inveigled to stay a bit longer and not to go rushing out the door, the way that any sensible person would. Though I think the Marx Brothers were famous for that too. In fact, the greatest surprise for me is: Myth of the Ostrich could very well be the first great female Marx Brothers stage play ever successfully written specifically for three women. Because, in a funny way, it's almost like Groucho, Harpo, and Chico exist within Holly, Pam, and Cheryl. They're like great-granddaughters to those riotous sons of immigrants. And of course born into crazy new times. The stage lights by Ms. Chavez are shockingly good, and two out of the three women here get good costume changes (Ms. Reckamp gets about three herself, I think) courtesy of Michele Friedman Siler. The impressive sound design is by Ellie Schwetye, and the spoken dialects are delicious thanks to Lauren Roth. A freeing laughter exists in nearly every minute as the pace quickens, but there are also three or four gripping moments of heartbreak, where, on opening night, the audience seemed to hold its collective breath. In one beat, we watched as all the blood seemed to have drained from Pam's face during a particular moment. Even when she's just wrestling her way out of a trench coat, it becomes one of a half-dozen moments of admirable stagecraft from Ms. Owens. Just as gleefully, she wrenches our heads out of their own ostrich holes in the ground. But it's always way way, way far in the background, this Marx Brothers' comparison, as the characters each stand on their own. Myth of the Ostrich, produced by Upstream Theater, runs through February 8, 2026, at the Marcelle, 3310 Samuel Shepard Drive, St. Louis MO. For tickets and information, please visit www.upstreamtheater.org. Cast: Production Staff: * Denotes Member, Actor's Equity Association |
