nytheatre.com review of Enough's Enough!
http://www.nytheatre.com/NytheatreNow/Review/fringenyc2012-enoughs-enough
When I was a kid I remember hearing my parents grumble about “making ends meet” and I thought it was some kind of cheap meat that they could scarcely afford in order to feed our family. As many families are now, we struggled to survive in those days and so do the characters in Enough’s Enough. However, in playwright Michael Thomas Cain’s dark comic world the characters may very well end up as cheap meat.
Meet Monica and Ted, two cogs in a corporate machine who have been working together in rather close quarters for at least ten years. It’s Ted’s 30th anniversary with the company and he’s feeling numb. So much so that he drives a staple into his hand just so he might feel something. Monica is feeling something though - something a little deeper and more pressing than a staple in the hand. Monica has that sacred itch and at this point only Ted can scratch it. A bell is heard and a memo appears in a box. “Get back to work”, it says, “or you’ll be subject to immediate termination”. But termination at this company doesn’t mean what you may think. The company, after all, controls the oxygen flow to the office and Ted and Monica are theirs for the rest of their lives.
I really enjoyed this short dark comedy. Cain’s script is sharp and subtle. At the top of the show you may think that this play is just another story about nameless, nobodies working in the corporate underbelly but it is far from that. The script unfolds gradually to reveal darker and darker revelations about the world of the play. I found it to be an absolutely hilarious slow burner that trucks along at a good pace and leaves you wanting a little more. Cain also does a fine job directing a talented cast of two.
Deacon Hoy plays Ted as an exasperated and defeated shell of a man who once had a family and creativity. Hoy’s tension and fear dominate his every line with only a few moments of clarity shining through that seem to be remnants of the man he used to be. Margie Ferris plays Monica with a nice balance of charm, desperation and drive. It seems that at any moment Ferris might burst open and reveal herself to be a vicious killer. Together their onstage chemistry reeks of commitment to these odd characters.
Enough’s Enough is good fringe theater. It is fresh, dark and out of the ordinary. FringeNYC is good for finding bold new voices and performers. This show delivers both.
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