Sunday, November 04, 2007
A+E, Theater

Good medicine

“Meds” offers just the right prescription

By Bert Osborne
 
Talk about a contact high. Brace yourselves to catch a bona fide buzz from “Meds,” Out of Hand Theater’s wildly experimental and highly infectious satirical revue about health care and the pharmaceutical industry. With co-artistic director Maia Knispel at the helm, the company-created show begins somewhat tenuously, with all the fun and frivolity of a visit to the doctor’s office. An audience of 30 or so is crammed into a waiting room, where a nurse routinely pokes her head out from behind a glass window to remind us that appointments are running an hour late. Various other cast members also crowd in and out for little bits of business. Perhaps fittingly, the more claustrophobic among us may be craving a dose of something from the get-go.
 How we’re transported from that stuffy office to the bright colors and flashing lights of a parallel universe called Pharmaland is a marvelous credit to set designer Oz Dillman. There, we see actor Matt Huff again, who breezed by earlier as the preoccupied doctor, only he’s traded his traditional white jacket for the cape of a magician (or is he a vampire?), performing sleights of hand, dispensing medical advice and surveying the audience. Brian Crawford and Ariel de Man, competing drug-company sales reps from before, pop up now as literal cheerleaders for the cause.

In a cleverly concocted, smoothly synchronized series of sketches and songs (and cheers), “Meds” thrives as pure entertainment—but it drives home some valid and sobering points, too, with nary a trace of heavy handedness. The show rattles off the usual facts and figures about the sorry state of health coverage, medical costs and pharmaceutical profits, but they go down a lot easier thanks to Geoff Uterhardt, for one, as a Pharmaland president in a fuzzy purple coat and matching booties (toy drum optional). A reading of several sad real-life case histories could seem cloying or preachy, but it’s less so coming from Jessica Rhoads as a nurse in a Carmen Miranda headdress.

Another smart and enigmatic delight from the folks who gave us 2005’s superb “Cartoon,” “Meds” strikes just the right tone and maintains just the right balance. It’s almost criminally addictive, a theatrical variation of practicing and prescribing medicine without a license. SP

DULY NOTED:

• Dad’s Garage’s similarly structured and developed “Date” (conceived by Tim Stoltenberg and co-directed by Stoltenberg and Matt Horgan) suffers in comparison to “Meds.” Part of the problem is that none of the four ensemble members ever gets to speak for themselves. They aren’t playing characters so much as simply pantomiming a series of comedic vignettes described by an unseen narrator. And part of the problem is that the show covers much less specific and more familiar territory—the dating scene. The sight of actor Joe Sykes with a mouthful of hot dogs is not unamusing, but the only truly telling moments in “Date” involve a few videotaped man-on-the-street interviews. Through Nov. 10 at Dad’s Garage. Tickets are $13–$18 in advance and $15–$20 at the door. 404-523-3141. www.dadsgarage.com
• In Onstage Atlanta’s pared down, two-character rendition of “The Turn of the Screw,” co-stars Barbara Cole Uterhardt and John Markowski give the famous ghost story a solid reading. Given the minimal production values, director Rachel White and lighting designer Mike Magursky provide a credible tension and atmosphere. Through Nov. 10 at Onstage Atlanta. Tickets are $15. 404-897-1802. www.onstageatlanta.com.
• Director Allen O’Reilly’s Red Clay Theatre staging of the perennial “Driving Miss Daisy” is harmless enough. As the irascible little old white lady and her mild-mannered black chauffeur, Deborah Childs and Lou Brock are stronger individually than they are at establishing a real bond between the characters. Through Nov. 11 at the Red Clay Theatre & Arts Center in Duluth. Tickets are $22. 770-622-1777. www.redclaytheatrearts.com.