NY Fringe Festival Review: Home is the Sailor, Home From Sea

Learning How to Say Goodbye

Home is the Sailor, Home From Sea
Presented by: WeThree Productions
Writer: Alex Coppola
Director: Alex Coppola

Summary:
Johnny (Blake Lowell), Sam (Alex Coppola) and Thom (David Morris), driving home from their friend Gus’ funeral hit a deer and try to figure out what to do. Should they drag it off, bury it along the roadside, leave it there, let a passerby (Spike McCue) take it away in his truck or bury it in Thom’s backyard while his parents are away? They opt for the latter, and get help form Thom’s sister, Kate (Janna Emig) and friend Leah (Suzi Sadler) who has a box of memorabilia she’d like to bury along with the animal.

The deer’s funeral with ensuing eulogies (the title comes from a Robert Louis Stephenson poem Thom incorporates) helps the friends come to grips with Gus’ suicide and saying goodbye.

Highlights:
• David Morris stands out as the entertaining Thom. Give this guy an Equity card.
• A very engaging script. I would have thought killing a deer and having its leg come off when the boys try to move it would have been somber, if not just gross, but author Alex Coppola’s gifted prose has you laughing in spite of yourself. The characters are engaging as well.
• Nice deer carcass prop.

Lowlights:
• Most of Sam’s dialogue is lost as Coppola mumbles in barely audible or inaudible tones. I found myself trying to piece together what he must have said based on responding dialogue from the other characters.

Christians might also like to know:
• Language
• Dead deer carcass and bloody canvas on stage

Fringe Tassels Awarded: 2.5

VENUE #1: CSV Cultural and Edu. Cntr. Milagro
See it again Wed 26 @ 3 Fri 28 @ 7 Sat 29 @ 2:45

--Lauren Yarger