Thank You for Being a (Socially Distanced) Friend

The Golden Girls: The Lost Episodes, Vol. 4 – LOCKDOWN! – Hell in a Handbag

David Cerda’s long-running loving but acid parody of The Golden Girls is back, and like us, the ladies are in lockdown. Set in 1992, the specific disease and the means everyone is using to communicate from quarantine are different (and hand-waved away with classic sitcom ease), but the effects are much the same, and the girls are cracking under the pressure and beginning to take it out on each other.

I will say, I am deeply impressed at how well most of the timing works, not just for jokes per se, but the dialogue generally. As all of us who have had Zoom meetings know, smooth conversational flow is not a given, but the magic of editing has been well applied, and each act does seem to be one uninterrupted conversation, as close to what it would be on stage as the format allows.

Cerda and his castmates have clearly done their homework impersonating Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sofia. Any long time fan of the show will easily catch the dozens of small details in cadence and delivery that elevate the impersonations. And even through the disconnect of all the actors performing over a video conference, it’s clear they have chemistry to spare and play off each other with ease.

It’s the first attempt by Hell in a Handbag to do a digital performance, certain to be the first of many both from this theater specifically and the theater world generally, trying to continue to make are during these times. There are some kinks to work out. The set up and jokes are there, but not enough to sustain the hour and ten minute runtime. The show introduces a handful of new characters who are not carryovers from the show, and I think it made the show drag in the middle. Maybe splitting the show into two shorter parts, not that far off a traditional ‘episode’ now that I think about it, might have helped keep things moving.

That all said I am eager to see what else Hell in a Handbag, and the theater world at large have in store. We don’t know when it will be safe to see live theater again. While I await that day with great anticipation, it brings me no small amount of comfort to know that art is still being made, and even if we are all enjoying it in our respective homes, in a way, we are still seeing it together.

Recommended

Reviewed by Kevin Curran

Presented through August 15th. To view the show, tickets can be purchased at  stage773.com and handbagproductions.org. After purchasing the ticket, a link is sent with the information to view the show