Alligator Summer

Imagine that you love the racy situations and over-the-top characters of Southern Gothic drama, but at the same time you feel it's ripe for parody. What do you do? You create "Alligator Summer," Dylan Lamb's attempt to celebrate the Tennessee Williams/William Faulkner vibe while mocking it.

The parody starts with the characters' names. The bedridden Attica Julep (Claire Rothrock); her husband, Atticus (Bruce Bluett); and their two sons, adult Toby (Roe Hartrampf) and young Antietam (Alex Fast), live up the street from the Gettysburgs, who consist of the kindhearted Bundle (Andrew Farmer); his ambitious wife, Ethelynnann (Elizabeth Alderfer); and their teenager daughter Antebellum (Erin E. McGuff). Ethelynnann and Atticus are having an affair and looking to get rid of Bundle and Attica, who suspect nothing.

Robert Ribar's direction is solid, but the play has too many confusing plot turns, swinging wildly from ridiculous to emotional. As mother and son, Fast and Rothrock have a few touching scenes together. Alderfer does a delicious turn as the manipulative Ethelynnann, and Hartrampf brings great energy to Toby. McGuff is wonderful as a wide-eyed teenager in love. But the play never finds a firm enough grounding in drama or satire, or even a synthesis of both, to create a satisfying whole.



Presented by Limelight Productions as part of the New York International Fringe Festival
at the Robert Moss Theater, 440 Lafayette St., 3rd floor, NYC. Aug. 14–23. Remaining performances: Wed., Aug. 18, 2 p.m., Sun., Aug. 22, 8:45 p.m.; Mon., Aug. 23, 6:45 p.m. (866) 468-7619 or www.fringenyc.com.