Review
FULLY COMMITTED
Mob Hit Productions
Starring Alison Lewis
Written by Becky Mode
Directed by Geoff Woods
Runs until February 12
Pumphouse Theatres
Fully Committed promises a night full of hilarity. Mob Hit Productions’ mounting of Becky Mode’s comedy is an entertaining 70-minute solo show, set in the reservations department of a trendy Manhattan restaurant, in which actor Alison Lewis plays more than 40 characters.
Lewis performs with great energy and lots of movement, embodying each character differently. Her recognizable voices and characterizations are reminiscent of Hollywood, which is appropriate considering that the restaurant’s clientele includes celebrities with pompous demands. Audiences will find that many of the restaurant’s callers sound familiar. There’s the annoying woman with the Gilda Radner voice, who gets lost in the shuffle and keeps calling Sam, the harried employee at the reservations desk and the play’s main character, to complain about her ill treatment. There is Bob, a fellow who sounds like Gilbert Gottfried, and Oscar, whose voice recalls Apu from The Simpsons. But by far the most intriguing character is the malevolent chef, who is arguably Sam’s true nemesis among the many people who contribute to her bad day. He is a man of unreasonable demands and overzealous pride, and Lewis gives him, suitably enough, the voice and mannerisms of Christopher Walken.
Mode makes Sam, an aspiring actor, a sympathetic character – she really just wants to go home and see her dad for Christmas, but instead she is stuck at the restaurant, forced to take everyone’s shit (quite literally at times). Her only comforts seem to be cigarettes, a hard-to-open bottle of water and, at one point, banging her head on the table.
Mode’s play is a gem that reveals its characters’ back-stories through their phone calls. Unlike real life, where we don’t get to see who is on the other end of the line, Lewis allows us a glimpse of these people in their environments. The only weakness in the script is the Ned factor. Throughout the show, Sam is warned not to book Ned, or there will be dire consequences. Ian Marten’s set plays this up, with posters in the office declaring things like "Book Ned, you’re dead." But when our poor heroine finally has to face this dire prospect, Mode drops the ball. It’s a little disappointing to have all the Ned buildup without the Ned climax.
The small, intimate Joyce Doolittle Theatre at the Pumphouse is an appropriate space for director Geoff Woods’s staging. It emphasizes Sam’s emotional state, in which she feels trapped and, when the phone keeps ringing, can’t escape it. Jody Alexander’s sound design underscores the holiday-period setting with Christmas tunes.
Some advice: to get the full Fully Committed experience, get there early and sit in the front. Just being able to read the sticky notes on Sam’s bulletin board will make it worthwhile. |
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