Dropped on his head by his mother when he was a baby, Rudy (Rick Bland) is told by his father that life is like a deck of cards—and Rudy’s been dealt a few bad ones. So, it turns out, has Dad (Ross Mullan) who’s dispatched soon thereafter by a freak car accident. That leaves Rudy in the company of his sardonic, rebellious sister Louise (Tamara Bick) and their alcoholic, self-pitying, and bigoted mother (Ross Mullan again, channeling equal parts Agnes Moorhead and Olive Oyl). What follows is a mostly engrossing, often funny tale of family dysfunction and dashed hopes. Superbly acted (a handful of flubbed lines aside), Thick is a hapless, unsentimentalized view of a limited intelligence trying to make sense of his world. Unlike its narrator, this 2003 Edinburgh Fringe Festival hit is definitely playing with a full deck and deserves a few more triumphant rounds.
Thick
By Rick Bland
Collective: Unconscious
Fri, Aug 19 at 8:45 p.m.; Sun, Aug 21 at 4 p.m.; Tue, Aug 23 at 8:30 p.m.; Fri, Aug 26 at 5 p.m.; Sat, Aug 27 st 10:30 p.m.; Sun, Aug 28 at noon.