Oh, the twisted, mischievous, chilling misadventure that awaits us, at The Ochre House. The narratives vary greatly, you never know what you’re going to see. It might be a satire on a Children’s Show, or Long Day’s Journey into Night. It might be an exploration of the lives of genius artists like William S. Burroughs, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Allen Ginsberg. You might witness heart-thumping flamenco, or flamboyant costume design. It’s a technicolor soup of lemon drops and marshmallow and tarragon and anisette and chutney and Garam Masala and fig and goat bones….Most everything onstage might be alive. Animate objects. Enormous puppets. Ochre House wants to play. It wants you to chuckle. It wants you to sing loud. It wants to repulse you. It wants to kiss you. It invites you to the enchanted realm of the flagrant mind.
Daddy’s Rabbits opens with two brothers, Boney and Hairy, slapping around Nance, telling her: That didn’t hurt. That didn’t hurt. After each blow. She is pretty, and wears the apparel of an independent, intrepid woman. She manages to escape. After blackout, the story continues with Mommy, Daddy, the two brothers (more like mouth breathers) and Isadorra, tenant of a rented room. In a fairly roomy cage, are three rabbits. Strict instructions apply to our furry friends. Don’t get too close. Don’t feed them. For the love of Christ, don’t open the door! Fu, Pete, and Skip are not like other evocations of “rabbit”. Not like Bugs or Brer or Cottontail, though the names ring a bell. They look like they might break into your house. Hang out on the corner. Tear into your quaint vegetable garden.
Daddy is something of a clothes horse, with goggly, virile shades and velvet corduroy trousers. He keeps rewarding everybody for compliance, with dollar bills. It’s like Pavlov. Mommy wears the recognizable, cheerful shifts, so popular in the 60’s. Everything she says, has this kind of wry, vaguely salacious tone. Isadorra (a tribute to the visionary dancer?) dresses with stylish, exotic clothes. She might be a seductress, or fortune teller, or both. Nance feels a bit like Indiana Jones. Clearheaded, forthright, fearless. Boney and Hairy are clods who walk in sync, say repugnant things and never change their ugly clothes.
Daddy’s Rabbits (writer, Director) Carla Parker’s very, very sharp, enigmatic spoof on the nuclear family (and, I’m thinking, racism) is somber and hilarious. The family Nance (and we) find ourselves thrown into, is insulated, crass, upbeat, and devious. Or clueless? They have rules to guide them, ridiculous though they may be. They worship hearth and home, but no grasp of how that works. Like praying to an acorn squash. The rabbits are docile, but perhaps just inches from anarchy. The brothers are criminal and degenerate. The dad is the father but not a patriarch. Parker has created a family very comfortable with the preposterous. All they need is their Bread and Circuses.
Don’t miss out! It’s closing weekend for Daddy’s Rabbits!
Daddy’s Rabbits plays August 10th-31st, 2024, at The Ochre House. 825 Exposition, Dallas, TX . 214-826-6273 ochrehousetheater.org