Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Lynn Nottage’s early-career satire FABULATION is raucously revived by the Signature Theatre Company

• By drediman
• December 23, 2018
• No Comments

Cherise Boothe in Lynn Nottage’s “Fabulation, or the Re-Eduction”, courtesy of Signature Theatre Company. Photo by Monique Carboni.

Currently running at the Signature Theatre Company is the Off-Broadway revival of Lynn Nottage’s early-career 2004 satire Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine. As those of you who follow theater may know, Ms. Nottage would go on to write hard-hitting dramas such as Ruined and Sweat, each of which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2009 and 2017, respectively. Fabulation tells the story of one Undine, a successful African American woman who loses her lucrative job as a publicist and is forced to re-acquaint herself with the inner city lifestyle she fought so hard to escape.

If you’re only familiar with Ms. Nottage’s more serious later works, then the freewheeling, gregarious – if a bit sit com-ish – satire on display in Fabulation may come as a surprise to you. For me, this production was a refreshing reminder of the celebrated playwright’s adventurous range, which was also evident in the out-of-the-box Mlima’s Tale, Ms. Nottage’s (latest) parable-like play which the played the Public Theater earlier this year. If Fabulation lacks the focus and cohesion of some of Ms. Nottage’s more accomplished later works, the episodic play is nonetheless a defiantly upbeat, very funny play that’s as entertaining as it is (sneakily) observant.

Lileana Blain-Cruz has directed a raucous, briskly-paced revival that captures Ms. Nottage’s spirited writing. Even if the production could have used a darker, harder-edged approach in a handful of instances, each scene is wonderfully sculpted for maximum hilarity. In the central role of Undine, the convivial Cherise Boothe was instantly likable and her energy was infectious. As her character spirals down the social ladder, Ms. Boothe’s take-charge performance perfectly captured Undine’s irrepressible outlook with inspiring, unfazed gusto. The rest of the versatile cast was a hoot, too.

RECOMMENDED

FABULATION, OR THE RE-EDUCATION OF UNDINE
Off-Broadway, Play
Signature Theatre Company at the Pershing Square Signature Center
2 hours (including one intermission)
Through January 6