The Dastardly Ficus

Critic’s Pick – Chris Piatt, TimeOut 2/26/09 – “History tells us (the five-year history of this theater company, to be specific) that it is impossible to talk about the black comedies of Emily Schwartz and the Strange Tree Group without comparing them to a hundred other artists first. Gorey and Poe are among the most frequent examples, for instance. And this particular tale of bickering, old-maid heiress siblings who have a human head buried under their floorboards echoes everything from the pleasant, doily-accented homicide of Arsenic and Old Lace to the torture-prone camp of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? But for all the exhausting pop-culture comparisons Schwartz and her fellow Trees warrant, you always walk out of the theater feeling you’ve seen something completely, delightfully original. Dastardly Ficus, a revival of a 2004 production at the Athenaeum now winningly restaged in the Chopin basement, is no exception.

Though probably overlong at two and a half hours, Schwartz’s mansion minuet rejiggers our idea of decrepit Havisham spinsterhood even as it relies on its icons. The Derbyshire sisters sit shiva at pet funerals for roadkill, sip potentially poisoned lemonade at deadly quiet drawing-room teatime and play two-person parlor games involving handheld weapons. But can they be happy without a man?

It’s hard to imagine Berg-Wilson’s classy little romper-room production without this acting trio, three human Hummels in need of an exorcism. The patrician Enoch peels away her layers of stiff-spined propriety with head-turning comic technique, and in a cameo as the object of her affection, Mr. Clock, the disarmingly vulnerable Cupper again proves himself the strangest Tree in the forest. But Chicago sketch and improv heroine Friedrich, as the dottier of the sisters, makes the biggest splash. Yeah, cheap pop comparisons are kind of unfair, but at least this irreverent, red-headed hybrid of Georgia Engel and Rachel Dratch doesn’t have a current theatrical peer”

Tony Adler, Chicago Reader 2/26/09 – “Emily Schwartz’s suite of four charmingly morbid vignettes centers on the Derbyshire sisters: Geneva, a prim spinster out of an Edward Gorey story, and Jennifer, who lives on reverie and parlor mints, and apparently takes her fashion cues from the Bette Davis character in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Each scene follows the same basic trajectory. Jennifer gets Geneva mixed up in a romantic fantasy involving eccentric props (a dead cat, a severed head, a Zorro rerun, a gentleman caller) that pushes Geneva to the limits of her patience. But equilibrium is regained each time, through luck, love, and a powerful wit. Schwartz is a master storyteller, and, under Amanda Berg Wilson’s direction for the Strange Tree Group–which premiered the show in 2004–Carol Enoch and Nancy Friedrich make the sisters’ relationship at once disturbing and overwhelmingly endearing”.

William Scott, NewCity 02/26/09 – “The Strange Tree Group’s current production of Emily Schwartz’s “The Dastardly Ficus and other Comedic Tales of Woe and Misery” has been getting a lot of buzz within theater circles and there is a clear reason. This artfully constructed gem, directed by Amanda Berg Wilson, is the kind that you want to take home in your pocket so you can get a closer look whenever its macabre imagery pops in your head, which will be often. Everything I love about Edward Gorey, Roald Dahl, and any fairy tales with wicked stepsisters or spinster aunts is currently living warmly in the basement of the Chopin Theater, nestled in the lovely scenic work of Kate Nawrocki and the playwright. The story is that of the Derbyshire sisters, Geneva (Carol Enoch), the buttoned-up matriarch and Jennifer (Nancy Freidrich), the disheveled free spirit who would rather be bogging for dead things than suffering under her sister’s conservatism. The series of scenes in the first act sets up a codependent, dysfunctional family relationship that comes to a whirling cacophony when Jennifer invites home a gentlemen suitor for Geneva in the second act. What makes “The Dastardly Ficus” so fun is the talent of these two women. Enoch can stare daggers through a coffee table and elicit fear from a potted plant while Freidrich is devilishly childlike in a way that leaves the most delicious taste in your mouth. This production is a special engagement of the show that started the company five years ago and I’m left with one big question. Where is the sequel? These characters have way more life in them”

Tom Williams, Chicagocritic.com – It has been almost five years since I discovered Emly Schwartz and her quirky and refreshing new comedic voice. This lady can write! Below are excerpts from my 2004 review of The Dastardly Ficus And Other Comedic Tales of Woe and Misery—(99% of which I still witnessed at Chopin Theatre on February 19, 2009):

“With two spinsters, a severed head, a posse of banditos and a conniving houseplant and a game of Cowboys an’ Indians, The Dastardly Ficus is the discovery of the summer!” (Now still a treat in winter of 2009). This show is a hoot!”

“This hilariously refreshing new comedy centers around the Derbyshire sisters whose imaginations are matched by their rivalry as they joyously play their way through life. Meet Geneva Derbyshire (the fabulously droll Carol Enoch), the pale blond, stiff nervously hyper disciplined mother figure and the simple-minded, child-like Jennifer (the hilarious Nancy Fredrich in the 2009 production) whose manic energy and playfulness wins our hearts.”

The Dastardly Ficus, by Emily Schwartz, is a dark and strangely amusing piece comprised of four stories involving the Derbyshire sisters, who are timeless, devious, and not altogether of sound mind. Inside the confines of their antiquated home, the two spinsters display a simmering malice towards one another, seemingly determined to slowly drive each other mad. But in fact, their story is one of love and companionship, as the two recluses keep each other amused with highly imaginative games.