‘Featherbaby’ — Written by David Templeton. Directed by Weylin Symes. Scenic Design by Katy Monthei; Lighting Design by Matt Cost; Costume Design by Deirdre Gerrard; Sound Design by Mackenzie Adamick. 1 hour 45 minutes, one intermission. Presented by Greater Boston Stage Company at 395 Main St, Stoneham, MA, through September 28.
By Shelley A. Sackett
There are not enough words of praise to describe Paul Melendy’s sublime performance as the insightful, unfiltered and outrageously funny trash-talking parrot, Featherbaby, in the eponymous play now running in its co-world premiere through September 28 at Greater Boston Stage Company in Stoneham. If you only see one production this entire season, this is the one that should be at the top of your list.
The set (Katy Monthei) alone is worth the price of admission. A pink wicker peacock chair sits high and center stage, an eye-catching focal point that will double as Featherbaby’s cage. Jigsaw pieces, rainforest motifs painted on cloth panels, strings of lights, and photographs of crime scenes foretell later plot elements, but before the curtain even goes up, all are indicative of the uniquely inventive theatrical event soon to begin. A simple desk and chair stage right and small table stage left bridge Featherbaby’s world and the two humans who will later share their stage.
The play opens with Melendy sashaying on the stage in full regalia. Thankfully, that does NOT include a stuffed-animal-like mascot costume of a green parrot. Rather, Deirdre Gerrard has captured the image of an Amazon parrot while allowing Melendy’s plasticene physicality to strut its stuff by creating an outfit of floral, formal dinner jacket, green vest and matching pants, and luminescent yellow satin shirt and tie. Melendy makes expert use of the long, wide double flaps in the jacket’s back as he manipulates his “tail” to great dramatic effect.
“I am adorable,” Featherbaby announces. Melendy casts a magical spell as his facial expressions, neck twitching, and bird-like prancing transform him into a believable version of a bird. “I am also,” he says unnecessarily, “intense.”
Maniacally egotistical, Featherbaby also needs constant attention and will go to great lengths to make sure he is at its center. “I AM HERE!!!!!” is his favorite refrain, seconded only by “poop.”
Melendy goes on, with manic and jaw-dropping physicality, to describe the evolutionary history and modern-day life of the parrot. We learn that parrots are descendants of dinosaurs and that their primary purpose in the wild is as simple as it is singular: avoid getting eaten. We also learn a new vocabulary that includes “crunching” (biting) as in, “I feel a crunch coming on.”
He describes being bagged by poachers and transported from his rainforest Amazonian haven to a cage in America. Melendy is an indescribable delight to watch, as he vamps, pantomimes, and literally inhabits Featherbaby. He even ad-libs at one point, when he tosses Mason’s “heavily scented boxer shorts” into the audience, only to have them thrown back in his face.
“There’s only room for one cheeky parrot in this play,” he says with a menacing, eyebrow-raised sneer.
The loose-limbed plot involves Angie (Liv Dumaine), the unpredictable and effervescent human who saved Featherbaby from an unfortunate shelter, and Mason (Gabriel Graetz), a man she brings into her (and Featherbaby’s) life.
Angie is a working gal who has recently broken up with her former roommate and girlfriend. The parrot now provides her only companionship. As Angie, Dumaine is all hope and toothy smiles when she brings Mason, a fellow jigsaw puzzle fanatic, home for the first time. Featherbaby takes an instant dislike to Mason, and the hostility is returned. Parrots are terrifically territorial, and when Mason begins to threaten Featherbaby’s previously exclusive relationship with Angie, Featherbaby’s tail feathers become ruffled. He crunches Mason relentlessly, hoping to nip the connection in the bud. That tactic fails, and when Mason moves into the apartment, it is all-out war to win back Angie’s full attention.
Angie (not quite the nice girl she pretends to be) leaves Featherbaby with Mason (more of a marshmallow sap than he realizes) to resume a relationship with Catherine, her former girlfriend. The two abandoned and betrayed former Angie beloveds must figure out a way to coexist. Eventually, after months of humorous and poignant hits and misses, they strike a truce and end up the better for it.
Along the way, Featherbaby’s asides and narrations delve into deeper issues of friendship, loyalty, competition, respect, and the multifaceted nature of relationships in general and love in particular. Most important are the lessons he learns (and shares) involving acceptance, love and trust.
“Who ends up in our bones is not always our choice,” Featherbaby notes. “Sometimes the bones choose.”
“What excites me most about Featherbaby is that it manages to be both laugh-out-loud funny and deeply touching,” said Director and Producing Artistic Director Weylin Symes in the program notes. “It is a play that sneaks up on you. One moment you are doubled over with laughter, and the next you find yourself thinking about the ways we connect with each other, even in the most unlikely circumstances.”
That is certainly true, but what is even truer about this production of Featherbaby is that it firmly establishes Paul Melendy as a one-of-a-kind talent. I, for one, can’t wait to see him next in Lyric Stage’s A Sherlock Carol.
For more information, visit www.greaterbostonstage.org
