Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Natalie Palamides wreaks havoc in WEER, the inaugural show at the rebooted Cherry Lane Theatre

• By drediman
• September 29, 2025
• No Comments

This fall, commercial Off-Broadway theater’s impressive resurgence continues with the re-opening of the rebooted Cherry Lane Theater, which has been bought and thoughtfully renovated by the indie film company A24 (Moonlight, Everything Everywhere All at Once). The Cherry Lane is one of Off-Broadway’s most historic and iconic venues, having been home to a host of important downtown theater productions over the course of its long history as a playhouse. That tradition continues with Natalie Palamides’ latest solo show Weer, the inaugural offering under the theater’s new ownership and management (for those unfamiliar with her, Palamides burst onto the scene in 2017 when she won Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe for her show Nate, which found subsequent success as a Netflix special).

Weer arrives in New York on a wave of anticipation — the current run at Cherry Lane is all but sold out — and happily, the show meets expectations, wreaking havoc every step of the way. Building on clowning and performance art traditions, Palamides’ show harkens back to the kind of daredevil performances that was once a trademark of downtown theater. Set during the 1990s, the piece chronicles the turbulent romance between Mark and Christina, which culminates in break-up fight for the ages on the eve of the new millennium. In essence, the play is a ball of gratuitous sex, violence, and absurdity. The gimmick here is that both characters are played by Palamides, who is garbed in a clever costume that literally splits her into the two characters (kudos to costume designer Ashley Dudek’s witty work).

To be sure, Weer is little more than a vehicle for Palamides’ irresistibly highly physical, self-indulgent antics, which audiences are enthusiastically showing up for. Brashly animating Mark and Christina as extreme caricatures, she performs with the kind of voracious gusto that’s ferocious and frankly a little frightening — yet difficult not to gaze upon and marvel at. Indeed, Palamides is a tireless force of nature throughout, at one point pinning herself to the ground as the couple she portrays wrestle each other with abandon, and at another point, shamelessly simulating sex with herself (move over, Prince Faggot). Suffice to say that by the end of the show, the fearless comic actress has literally chewed up the scenery (courtesy of Gabriel Evansohn).

RECOMMENDED

WEER
Off-Broadway, Play
Cherry Lane Theatre
1 hour, 20 minutes (without an intermission)
Through November 9