Fringe, Reviewed: In The Pony Palace/FOOTBALL
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
"A sometimes messy and confusing but ultimately enjoyable 70 minutes."
[ theater ]
In the Pony Palace/FOOTBALL, by Half Straddle
Attended: Wed. 9/17, 7 p.m., Christ Church Neighborhood Playhouse; closes 9/19, 7 p.m.
An all-female cast puts a gender-queer spin on the players, coaches and cheerleaders of a high school football team, complete with a marching band.
WE THINK:
Director Tina Satter's exploration of high school football isn't the easy parody of male violence and strutting behavior that one might expect; sure, there's some of that, but so much more, in a sometimes messy and confusing but ultimately enjoyable 70 minutes.
We see a high school football team -- the Owls, who play at the temple-like Pony Palace -- through a season of highs and lows. Players, cheerleaders, coaches, and even the mascot are part of the team's tribe, and they're all women, not women playing men. We see mimed football plays, sometimes in cinematic slo-mo, other times in bright musical numbers featuring Lady Gaga songs played by an on-stage marching band. The intense light, sound, and activity of game time comes alive on their simple astroturf field.
Everyone talks in overlapping codes: snarkly teen slang, complex football terminology and athlete braggadocio. Everything about the game -- before, during, and after -- unfolds as mystic ritual. And yet, it's all still fun, peppered with moments of startling insight, like when the Owl mascot confesses to us, or when a sullen cheerleader confides, "It's hard to make your brain like a sky, and then add hurricanes."
Half Straddle give us that familiar high school sports story, and also creates keen social commentary.
