Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Larissa FastHorse’s hardworking satire THE THANKSGIVING PLAY earns its plentiful laughs

• By drediman
• November 6, 2018
• No Comments

Margo Seibert in Playwrights Horizons’ production of Larissa FastHorse’s “The Thanksgiving Play” at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Last night, Playwrights Horizons’ production of Larissa FastHorse’s new play, the aptly-named The Thanksgiving Play, opened Off-Broadway at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. The play depicts the creation of a devised, politically-correct elementary school Thanksgiving pageant. It’s a harder task than you’d initially imagine. You can probably already predict that, given the devised nature of the pageant’s creative process, its rehearsal sessions are minefields of clashing points of view, leading to awkward, pointed hilarity.

Indeed, the premise is particularly rife for parody, and no one is spared in Ms. FastHorse’s hardworking but ultimately very funny comedy. Her play is very self-aware, and hence its tone can come off as somewhat self-congratulatory. But as I grew accustomed to and surrendered myself to this stylistic choice, I reveled in the cartoonish excessiveness of it all. At the end of the day, The Thanksgiving Play earns its plentiful laughs.

Director Moritz von Stuelpnagel has a lot of fun with the play, staging it for maximum broadness. The production aggressively engages in Ms. FastHorse’s ludicrous situations, as if daring us not to hackle. Luckily, the approach pays off handsomely. The first-rate cast of four is also onboard – featuring an absolutely delicious turn by Margot Seibert – delivering over-the-top performances that had the audience, and me, in stitches much of the time.

RECOMMENDED

THE THANKSGIVING PLAY
Off-Broadway, Play
Playwrights Horizons at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through November 25