“Moments of madness revealing hidden hillbilly humour”
Out There on Fried Meat Ridge Road written by (and starring) Keith Stevenson, was first produced in California around four years ago. Since then it has developed something of a cult status and spawned two sequels, A Fried Meat Christmas and The Unfryable Meatness of Being with a fourth installment due.
The play focuses on JD (Keith Stevenson), a curious character with a big heart. JD lives in a sleazy run down motel in West Virginia; spending his time drinking Mountain Dew with vodka whilst helping out with odd jobs in lieu of paying rent (such as retrieving a sanitary towel from an 87 year old lady’s toilet).
The White Bear Theatre is transformed into JD’s insalubrious room. This is captured perfectly, right down to the dubious stains on the carpet. With the theatre layout as it is, the audience are seated as if they were in the room, which brings you nicely into the action.
Knocking at his door, JD finds Mitch (Robert Moloney), a sweaty palmed, out of work spork salesman in search of a room. The motel’s bigoted owner Flip (Michael Wade) soon drops in as do crazy fellow resident couple Tommy and Marlene (Dan Hildebrand & Melanie Gray).
What ensues is an hour of mayhem involving tuna fish sandwiches, a 500 pound (unseen) lady friend of Mitch inadvertently causing the razing of a gazebo, a police shoot out and an apparent miracle.
The roles of JD and Mitch are well acted, with Melanie Gray giving a scarily realistic performance as troubled addict, Marlene.
It’s easy to see why there is a cult following behind this. The characters are mainly likeable and the humour is bold and brash. However, for such a short play, there seemed to be too many characters to get to know any of them in real depth. The character Tommy seemed unconvincing at best and Flip could have been dispensed with completely.
There are some clever lines, with moments of madness revealing hidden hillbilly humour, but it’s not a massive laugh out loud piece. It does pick up in the last twenty minutes or so when the laughs get more and more and the action more watchable.
Pleasant enough to spend an hour watching but doesn’t engage enough to make you want to see more. It does however, have possibly the weirdest play title ever!
Photography – Gavin Watson
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