Review by Rebecca Finer
This Is My F’ing Wedding, written by Francisco Castro and directed by Tiffany Roberts, at the Actor’s Workout Studio: Presented by Above the Curve Theater, North Hollywood, CA
My dyslexia took its toll on me the night I went to see "This is my F'ing Wedding," and writing the address backwards, I barely made it and had to sit on a shelf in the back of the house. Fortunately, "This is My F'ing Wedding," is not a show where you think about too much about your comfort level, but one that sweeps you off your feet and over to Louisiana.
The curtain opens on Jessie, our bride to be, giving a touching comic monologue while clothed in a wedding dress and recalling a sex talk from her mother that left her horrified. The show moves from there at a quick pace. We are next introduced to Jessie’s fiancé, who seems like the perfect man, though it won't take long for eyebrows to cock in suspicion. Times are rare when it's the man insisting on a big traditional ceremony against his fiance's request to elope, a definite role reversal.
This is the story of Jessie (Adrian Lee Borden), a young woman attempting her third trip down the aisle. Her first two near-husbands didn't work out so well and now she's nervous of facing humiliation a third time at the altar. Giving way to her Fiance's pleas, she eventually agrees to have a big wedding, instead of quietly eloping.
This is My F’ing Wedding was chock full of surprises, from the fun role of the mother, played by Goreti DaSilva, chasing after her son with a gun inside a bag of Cheetos, to the surprise ending. DaSilva's character takes the show to a whole new level of funny, delivering dialogue flawlessly, she is perfectly cast.
My favorite character and one of the funniest and easiest to identify with, is the clown (Anthony Marquez). Broken hearted, he manages to get the audience to take him seriously and empathize with him. When he reveals that he had once tried on his ex girlfriend's red panties and liked wearing them, I was laughing too hard to judge what could have been creepy.
The play flows beautifully. Each character adds a new element of personality and difficulty upon introduction, making it both hilarious and true to life. Women in a prayer group trying to coax a five year old to not eat poop is strange stuff, but here it is funny enough to work. The priest (Curtis Saulnier), who is not really a priest, displays much more knowledge than you expect from most people, let alone a nutcase.
The house leaves the show giddy; it would have been impossible not to, ending on a note that reeks of every cloud's silver lining. So what if your fiance is into the fellas? There's a romantic, albeit pot headed, flower delivery clown just waiting to sweep you off of your feet.
