There are dysfunctional family comedies … and then there’s Taylor Mac’s Hir, a dysfunctional family comedy that takes the genre to such extremes that not everyone will make it past intermission. I, on the other hand, relished every twisted second of this Odyssey Theatre Ensemble Los Angeles Premiere.

Life may not have been a bed of roses for Isaac Connor (Zack Gearing) when he enlisted fresh out of high school, but nothing in the Middle East could have prepared him for the physical, emotional mess of a home that greets this morning’s return after three years in Mortuary Affairs (i.e. picking up the guts of his fallen fellow Marines).

 Not only is the house in such disarray that there’s scarcely an inch not stacked with clutter, once Isaac’s finally made it inside, he finds dad Arnold (Ron Bottitta) in a near vegitative state following a recent stroke, and what’s worse, Dad’s sporting clown makeup and wig and dressed in one of his wife’s old nightgowns.

As for Paige Connor (Cynthia Kania), don’t even think of trying to talk Mom into turning off her husband’s much-hated air-conditioner, or rethinking the meds-packed, estrogen-spiked smoothie she’s concocted for him (prescribed dosage be damned), or God forbid letting Isaac pick up the piles of dirty laundry scattered around the floor.

 Adding to Isaac’s dismay is younger sibling Max (Puppett), once a middle school tomboy but now proudly genderqueer, hair sprouting from chin and pits, outspokenly denouncing the hetero hierarchy, and demanding to be called neither he nor she but ze, and not him or her but hir (pronounced here).

There is, it turns out, a very good reason for Mom’s revolt, a rebellion that has her abandoning housework for a paying job, homeschooling Max despite just one semester of junior college, and making damned sure that Arnold now knows who’s the boss.

 It’s the same reason that sent Isaac fleeing three years ago, the same reason that Dad’s wish is no longer Mom’s command, the same reason that Hir, which debuted three years before #metoo began its viral spread, now finds that its time has truly come.

Diehard liberals and in-your-face members of the LGBTTSQQIAAP community (as Max has schooled Mom to say) may get their knickers in a twist at the extent that performance artist/playwright Mac has thrown political correctness to the wind.

 And truth be told, Paige says and does such horrendous things, Max takes teen obnoxiousness to such a whole new level, and Arnold proves so painful to watch that Hir may end up for some a taste not easily acquired.

Still, for those willing to look beneath the surface to the places Mac’s hard-to-stomach characters are coming from, this L.A. Premiere, ferociously directed by Bart DeLorenzo, holds multiple rewards, not the least of which are two of the finest performances you’ll see all year.

 The phenomenal Kania attacks role-of-a-lifetime Paige with all she’s worth, taking no prisoners along the way while never letting us forget that however monstrous this mother-from-hell can be, her madness is not unmotivated.

 As for Gearing, expect big things ahead for the gifted Cal Arts grad, whose Zack provides the sole bit of grounded sanity amongst the crazies, all the while harboring his own secret shame.

L.A. stage favorite Bottitta takes a character with a violent past and scarcely a word to say and makes us care, and trans actor Pupppett reveals the self-doubt that lies just beneath the surface of every know-it-all teen regardless of gender.

Scenic designer Thomas A. Walsh takes Mac’s “too much stuff” description of the Connors home to appropriately outrageous extremes (major kudos too to prop designer Josh Le Cour), with Merrily Murray-Walsh’s spot-on costumes (special snaps for Arnold’s drag) and Katelan Braymer’s expert lighting completing a terrific production design and Dane Oliver choreographing the tussle you just know must be coming.

 Hir is produced by Beth Hogan. Bo Powell is assistant director. Beth Mack is stage manager.

Though Hir’s intermission may provide an exit excuse for some, those who can see beneath the physical and emotional mess on stage will find much to savor in this unapologetically radical look at family dysfunction gone berserk.

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, 2055 South Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles.
www.odysseytheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
February 20, 2019
Photos: Enci Box

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Taylor Mac