Review: Hurts, Scars, Wounds, and Marks: The "Feejee Mermaid," A Dark Delicacy Best Served on Stage
Feejee Mermaid Written by Clay McLeod Chapman Directed by Pete Boisvert Presented by Drops in the Vase at The Flea 20 Thomas St, New York, NY 10007 October 19-November 2, 2024 Morgan Zipf-Meister & Niccolò Walsh. Photo by Kent Meister Under the auspices of the eve of the 19th Annual International Taxidermy Championships, Clay McLeod Chapman's new play, Feejee Mermaid , renders a Milwaukee hotel room a liquor-fueled crucible, taking the audience on an unlikely journey into the dark heart of competition, creativity, violence and taboo. Feejee Mermaid is a rare work, a resounding success: as poignant as it is funny, as heartfelt as it is unflinchingly brutal. The action is centered around one night in this hotel room, with the full weight of the previous year’s competition, and the interpersonal consequences therein, fueling the tension-soaked 75 minutes to come. The play opens in the hotel room, rendered perfectly anodyne and anonymous (emanating the essence of what is means to...