How far would you go to be happy? How far would you go for the one you love? Would you kill for them?
Malicious Bunny, written by Matthew A. Sprosty and directed by Bryan Fox, attempts to answer these questions. It’s a dark comedy that lies somewhere between True Romance and Desperate Housewives. It exists in a post-Tarantino world where every line is clever and the characters exist in a hyperactive version of reality.
To highlight this, Jonathon (Markus Taylor) the main character, almost immediately breaks the fourth wall, speaking directly to the audience. This is meant as a wink to let us know everything is not as it seems. We’re then introduced to his wife Angela, played adventurously by Heidi-Marie Ferren. She taunts Jonathon with her sexuality, emasculating him with a series of large dildos and implying that he likes her to be in charge during their escapades. This was a great boundary pushing scene that the rest of the play only manages to live up to in fits and starts.
Unable to keep Angela satisfied, both in bed and life, Jonathon asks her what he can do to make her happy. It turns out she wants her millionaire parents dead, but really just wants their money. If Jonathon offs Angela’s parents, she will finally be happy with him.
Jonathon desperately tries to find another way to get the million dollars that will make Angela happy. He rushes to Atlantic City with his friend Greg, played by Andrew McIntyre who steals every scene he’s in, and proceeds to gamble away his entire life savings. Destitute, he drunkenly reveals the plan to kill Angela’s parents to Greg. Greg is far too supportive of the idea, bouncing off the walls with his enthusiasm to commit murder with his friend.
Faced with divorce from Angela, or killing her parents, Jonathon makes the only rational choice…to kill Angela’s parents.
The scene is anchored by a great performance from Larry Gilman, as Angela’s gangster father Mr. Parsby (in a running gag, what kind of gangster is named Parsby?). He takes great pleasure in making Jonathon feel small and worthless, another form of emasculation for Jonathon. Throughout the whole scene, Jonathon is on the phone via bluetooth receiving instruction from Angela. He is literally getting yelled at from both ends. Watching this scene build to it’s violent, chaotic conclusion was the highlight of the play.
For the pulpy world the play lives in, it is way too long, clocking in at about two and a half hours with intermission the night I went. There were scenes that could have been folded into one another or cut completely without effecting the outcome of the story. For example, the jump to Atlantic city feels totally forced and it would’ve been easy to achieve the same outcome without the scenery change. Unfortunately, these scenes created an excessive amount of set changes which made it hard to connect to the characters. This also made it hard for the play to create the building sense of tension that should be present in a noir story.
In addition, much of the music was perilously close to being on the nose, if not directly there. For example, when Angela leaves Jonathon at home while she heads off to Europe, he dances around the apartment listening to Freedom by George Michael. The musical selection attempted to be comedic, but the obvious selections and lyrics only served to weaken the story the creators were telling. More thought provoking music could have increased tension and possibly helped the set changes feel smoother.
The play attempts to show what happens when a man is pushed to his breaking point. Jonathon is pulled in all directions and has never made much of himself; he gets bossed, bullied and manipulated by everyone around him. However, instead of making us feel sorry for him or identify with him, the character comes across as an opportunistic idiot. I think some more work was needed to build his character and the story in a way that made it feel like his world was uncontrollably collapsing around him, to create more of a sense of desperation in Jonathon. The play is lacking that sense of inevitable destruction that great dark comedies attain.
Malicious Bunny starts off dark, edgy and funny, but unfortunately can’t sustain itself through the second half. I believe that with some editing and trimming down the runtime, this could be a fun, jaunty neo-noir that lives up to its intriguing title and premise.
March 17 – April 9. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm. Sundays at 7:00 pm.
Mature content and language. Some violence. Ages 18+.
Tickets are $30. Buy Tickets: http://www.maliciousbunny.com/ticketing. Guest production at The Actors Company Let Live Theater, 916 North Formosa Ave., Los Angeles 90046.
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