Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Ian Allen’s sly solo show LAURA BUSH KILLED A GUY is a sardonic but loving portrait

• By drediman
• July 9, 2018
• No Comments

Lisa Hodsoll in Ian Allen’s “Laura Bush Killed a Guy” at The Flea Theater.

This past weekend, I caught one of the final performances of the provocatively-titled Laura Bush Killed a Guy, a solo show written by Ian Allen and starring Lisa Hodsoll as the titular First Lady. Prior to the recently-concluded run at The Flea Theater, the Klunch production was previously seen in Washington, D.C., earning Ms. Hodsoll a 2017 Helen Hayes Award nomination for her performance as Laura Bush.

Laura Bush Killed a Guy is an episodic exploration of this relatively less iconclastic First Lady through the lens of today’s political landscape. Instead of creating a well-defined portrait, the playwright creates a figure that’s streaked with question marks; this Laura Bush is a blurry creation that implicitly questions the nature of identity, especially as refracted through social media and the Internet. Do these “tools” reveal the multiplicitous nature at our core, or do they simply expose our shallowness? Expect no definitive answers here. Comprised of three short acts (the the play is intermission-less), Mr. Allen also sardonically but lovingly looks back at the Bush administration at large. It wasn’t so bad in hindsight, was it?

In a slyly enjoyable performance, Ms. Hodsoll masterfully realized Mr. Allen’s elusive, moving target of a play. Her Laura Bush came across as likable yet inert; this is a First Lady to whom things happen as opposed to a woman who takes action in her own story. We even find out that the title of the play – although it implies action – was a passive event. Director John Vreeke was also fully in tune with Mr. Allen’s intentions, helming the piece smartly and elegantly.

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LAURA BUSH KILLED A GUY
Off-Broadway, Play
The Klunch at The Flea Theater
1 hour, 25 minutes (without an intermission)
Closed