Tattered Capes
Reviewed by Taylor Kass
Theatre Unleashed: Hollywood Fringe Festival Extension
Closed
There’s a reason why Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark flopped so hard on Broadway. It’s simply impossible to rival the special effects of superhero films onstage, especially with the budgetary and spatial restrictions of the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Tattered Capes, a Fringe extension by Theatre Unleashed, attempts to overcome this obstacle with varying degrees of success. The production’s DIY special effects range from the creative — fight scenes in shadow, stage-hands in black hoodies openly assisting with flying — to the cursory: running back and forth across the stage, using vague “magic” gestures. While the premise shows promise, Tattered Capes’s sloppy execution and alarming gender politics prevent it from taking flight.
Playwright Gregory Crafts’s writing is underdeveloped and poorly structured, resulting in scattered monologues, stilted dialogue, and psychologically ill-defined characters. Corey Lynn Howe’s staging is similarly mishandled, resulting in random, directionless wandering to match the rambling script’s cheap twists. However, Soda Persi’s choreography is an effective and watchable blend of dance and combat.
In addition to translating the superhero genre to the theatre, Tattered Capes is a study of just how fragile the male ego can be. Kevin (Travis Joe Dixon)’s secret alter ego is M-Pulse, a “D-list” superhero whose duties mainly include stopping petty crimes. When his wife Stephanie (Joanna Mercedes) divulges a secret of her own and reveals that she might actually wear the cape in the relationship, Kevin turns on her with shocking celerity. He accuses her of being untrustworthy, belittles her in front of her friends, attempts to use her connections for his own personal gain, and puts her life at risk to soothe his wounded ego.
Stephanie’s one-dimensional character is a misogynistic twitter troll’s greatest fantasy — the perfect reason why women shouldn’t be superheroes, why they shouldn’t play Captain Marvel or Thor. She is blind to the advice of her friends, the needs of humanity, and reason itself because of her unwavering devotion to her jealous, impulsive, and petulant husband. Kevin does absolutely nothing to warrant her affection, other than Stephanie’s half-hearted and trite assertion that he seems to care about stray animals and that he makes her soup when she’s sick. He’s condescending and self-centered from the very first scene, so it’s impossible to root for their relationship or understand Steph’s decision to stand by her man. Even more concerning, the play glosses over the deep issues in its central relationship and paints Kevin and Stephanie’s combative marriage as a beautiful, star-crossed love story. The real super-villain of Tattered Capes isn’t a mad scientist or evil sorcerer: it’s an insecure man who is convinced a woman has taken the power that’s rightfully his.
studio/stage, 520 N. Western Ave., Hollywood; Closed. www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/6076/. Running time: approximately 75 minutes with no intermission.
