Theater review

There’s something fishy about Tuna, Texas, the town that is the focal point of the play “Greater Tuna,” now playing at Acadia Repertory Theater. The Tuna townspeople are members of the KKK, the BBB (Better Baptist Bureau), the Tuna Helpers (a shut-in visiting squad), and the Wild Hogs (an offshoot of the Lions Club, but less liberal). Through a series of vignettes, we learn about their bigotry, racism and evangelism, the ideals that fuel this small Texas town. The local radio station, OKKK, becomes the mouthpiece for the equally small minds that populate Tuna.

We meet 22 different townies including delinquent ne’er-do-wells, finger-waving housewives and cliche-slinging ministers. The characters are at once laughable and frightening.

For instance, Bertha Bumiller hopes to ban “Roots” from school shelves because she feels it only presents one side of slavery. Didi Snavely, proprietor of Didi’s Used Weapons, makes a public broadcast about her sales items: “If Didi’s can’t kill it, it’s immortal.” And Pearl Burras can’t sleep because she’s run out of strychnine which she uses to poison neighborhood dogs when they harass her chickens.

This Tuna town is, indeed, loony, in the most dangerous of ways. The more frightening element of the story, however, is that towns like Tuna do exist and are the product of American freedoms gone awry.

The script, written by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard, is often witty, but too often relies on worn-out situational humor about southern culture. Many of the one-liners are stale, and the monologues tend to ramble.

For the actors, however, the script is incredibly demanding. A cast of two must portray the 22 characters who share nothing more than their backward and bigoted ideas. Mark Dean and Brian Desmond are up for the task.

Dean, in particular, shows amazing versatility and imagination. As young animal rights activist Petey Fisk, he is wiry, fidgety and animated. As Vera Carp, a pillar of Coweta Baptist Church, he persuasively plays a middle-aged debutante. Additionally, Dean changes seemingly complicated costumes in a matter of seconds. His swift and smooth transitions between characters is most impressive.

Desmond’s characters are less distinctive and his shrill female impersonations become grating after a while, but he is competent in the 11 roles he plays.

Costumer George Miller deserves special mention because without his clever costuming, the actors would have been backstage more than on stage. Rumor has it that Miller used miles of velcro to facilitate the costume changes and that some costumes changes required the help of several stage hands. From the audience, we never are aware of the bedlam that must be taking place behind the set.

Equally commendable is the technical work of George Hamrah. Because many of the props are mimed, the technical cues must be perfectly timed. Hamrah has coordinated this beautifully.

At the end of the show, little Petey Fisk removes his “Save the Scorpions” cap and bows his head in prayer. “I don’t know if there’s anybody up there,” he says. “But if you are up there and if you did create all this, we could sure use some help takin’ care or it.”

There’s no question that Tuna needs help and that nothing short of a miracle would bring its residents salvation. Acadia Repertory Theater offers an entertaining view of the dangers and pain that lie beneath this strangely familiar setting.

“Greater Tuna” will be performed 8:15 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday through July 8, and 2 p.m. July 8 at the Acadia Repertory Theater in Somesville. For reservations, call 244-7260.