See it if the star Sarah Chalfie is excellent! She carries the show. It is a play about a breakup. Up beat music, geared to a younger audience.
Don't see it if It got off mark at one point, (the pulled muscle). If you do not like a show about how a young girl deals with a breakup.
See it if You want to see a very fast paced and over the top show
Don't see it if You have trouble buying into situations and characters that are not believable Read more
See it if want to see everything the Flea does, else, no point
Don't see it if tired of cliched one-joke shows
See it if you enjoy new theater and want a show with energy and some good ideas.
Don't see it if you expect a fully mature script and production
See it if you delight in high octane staging, highly concentrated performances, brilliant lighting design, and tales of self acceptance
Don't see it if you dislike narratives similar to romantic comedies, dislike non-linear structures, or want something with a more committed follow-through Read more
See it if You wanna see great acting
Don't see it if Felt like a first draft. The exciting overload of the first part gives way to a more conventional, and not particularly focused, second part
See it if you really really really like breakup dramas
Don't see it if you like a plot
See it if you like The Flea's work - over the top, surprising, never a dull moment. Play about a really bad breakup and really bad advices you get
Don't see it if you are going with your parents, going on a date, don't like bad language and simulated sex on stage
"As a story of self-empowerment and a satire of self-care, it’s not especially wise and new. The production looks chintzy and the young cast can’t always handle the tonal variations that the writing demands. It might be worth meeting those demands. Ms. Del Rosso’s dialogue is sometimes self-conscious and sometimes undisciplined, but there’s enough breakneck banter and frisky wordplay to recall the sad-happy style of the playwrights Melissa James Gibson and Jenny Schwartz."
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"A theatrical nervous breakdown/freakout/conniption fit; it pathologizes some fairly standard quarter-life anxieties, converting them into the broadest of cartoons. If there were an award for the most frantic play in town, this would be the winner...Right from the get-go, something is off...The adventures that follow are mostly unamusing...Not helped by McClure's direction, which encourages mugging...Like its title, Del Rosso's play repeats itself without adding anything new."
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“Produced as part of the Flea's Season of Women, Del Rosso's freshman effort shows great promise. Under Marina McClure's insightfully freewheeling direction the members of The Flea's resident acting troupe, The Bats, takes the play and exuberantly runs with it with their usual unabashed energy and courage to expose themselves - right down to their underwear!”
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"This vibrant, explosive investigation into life after a breakup could have used a bit more fleshing-out, but what it lacks in world-building is made up in rapid-fire dialogue...The Flea's resident acting company execute 'Fill's' hyper-stylized dialogue with perfection...There is still much to be desired in the understanding of Joni's real world...But if you love brilliantly staged, uproarious comedies with snappy, witty dialogue, 'Fill' has a place in the canon of witty relationship investigations."
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"The dialogue and acting flip between completely realistic and hyper-stylized...There are lots of laughs, some at the ridiculousness of the characters and their actions, some at the many awkward and uncomfortable moments that happen to Joni...McClure has a talent for pacing and The Bats gleefully charge through Del Rosso’s fascinating material, barely pausing to take a breath. The result is a whirlwind but with an ease and familiarity that make it totally enjoyable to watch."
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"An often fun, over-the-top comedy...Much of this is clever, amusing and appropriately cringeworthy, directed by Marina McClure with unvaried exaggerated energy...If the dialogue and scenarios are heightened for comic effect, they often reflect something deeply recognizable...Slips in its originality and verve in the last few scenes...The audience might mentally exit what’s happening on stage and start speculating about the playwright."
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“The pacing races, the movement is crisp, and the charmingly executed mugging and double-takes are nonstop…The Bats perform Del Rosso's hour and 15-minute play as if to the manner born, with Chalfie's bold, animated, and sharply honed performance, ranging from bewilderment to self-assertion, leading the way...While the hilarity potential…is palpable, the play, despite Del Rosso's obvious sense of humor, is too self-consciously clever to reach the big-laugh, comic level required.”
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"Sarah Chalfie imbues the central character with impressive physical energy...Talented cast...An eclectic plot encompasses everything from acupuncture prescriptions to outtakes of Annie, with an awkward threesome thrown in for good measure. This being experimental theater not everything comes off, but the best bits make it worthwhile...Amid the slapstick, 'Fill' also more seriously manages to ponder Mars/Venus misunderstandings."
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