"Divine Sister" - Devilishly Funny Romp From SpeakEasy Stage Company

THE DIVINE SISTER
Play by Charles Busch
Directed: by Larry Coen
Sets, Cristina Todesco. Lights, Daniel H. Jentzen. Costumes, Charles Schoonmaker. Original music/sound, Arshan Gailus.
Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company.
At: Roberts Studio Theatre in the Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston.
Through Nov. 19. Tickets $30-$55, 617-933-8600,
www.speakeasystage.com
140 Minutes, no intermission

Here’s the first clue that “Divine Sister” will not remind you of an Audrey Hepburn movie. Writer Charles Busch’s other creations include “Die, Mommy, Die!,” “Psycho Beach Party,” and “Vampire Lesbians of Sodom.”  And the Divine Sister, Mother Superior, is played by Jeffery Roberson, better known from audiences from Provincetown to Broadway as Varla Jean Merman.

Now that we have that straight, or shall I say understood, we may begin. The show is an absolute romp.  

The actors, Jeffery Roberson (Mother Superior/Susan), Paula Plum (Sister Acacius/Lil), Kathy St. George (Sister Walburga/Mrs. MacDuffie), Sasha Castroverde (Agnes), Ellen Colton (Mrs. Levinson/Timmy), and Christopher Michael Brophy (Jeremy/Brother Venerius), chew up their scenes with sheer gluttony. If overacting were a sin, they’d all spend eternity in hell.

Remember those seven bad words that got George Carlin in trouble? Well, they are lingua franca here.  So are dastardly slang words for Catholics, Jews, and numerous ethnic and cultural groups. I stopped counting gasps from the audience because laughter, at first nervous, then hearty, followed the raunchy lines that began exploding like over-heated kernels of popcorn.

Mother Superior's first entrance: unconventional from the first scene.

1966: Sister Superior hatches a plan to rebuild the crumbling edifice of St. Veronica’s Convent School in Pittsburgh. A visit to possible benefactress and Jewish atheist Mrs. Levinson uncovers the byzantine, hilarious history they share. Other plots include the mystery of a drama-queen young postulant, Sister Agnes, who sees holy visions in undergarments, and the arrival of Sister Walburga from Germany, who is intent on overthrowing Mother Superior and sanctifying the remains of Jesus’ long lost sister that are interred under St. Veronica's Convent.

The element of camp humor is elevated to that of a holy sacrament. Mugging and eye-rolling asides to the audience reach vaudevillian heights. If you’re a movie buff, you’ll understand writer Busch’s references to nearly every movie about Nuns ever produced.

The staging and sets are delightful, imaginative and low-budget. Each plot twist, and there are many, becomes more absurd. I felt like we reached the saturation point well before the uber-outlandish final scene. But what the heck, the point was to have a good time spoofing sacred cows and Busch has spoofed of herd them.

If you want to see a bunch of really good actors having a helluva good time, “Divine Sister” is for you.

Photo courtesy Craig Bailey, Speakeasy Stage Company

Comments

[Ann Baker]

Yes I wanted to see this and I am sorely sorry I missed it. Tonight's the last night and I have to be a grandmother and babysit. Ugh! torn between two things I love.

[Paul Tamburello aka pt at large]

I realized this was the last week and went on Thursday, the only performance I could watch in an unusually busy week! You woulda howled with the zealous vamping, scurrilous dialogue, and improbable plots.

[Rebecca Wilson]

Nice review, Paulie.

[Paul Tamburello aka pt at large]

Thank you. You would have either been horrified or entertained by this one!

[Susan Sullivan]

sounds like my kind of absurdity, Paul...wish it was running longer...

[Paul Tamburello aka pt at large]

Absurdity...that's a good way to phrase it...this play leaped and bounded with it. Every time i thought I had the jist of it figured out, some crazy new wrinkle appeared.