The Stuff of Nightmares: Mercury Fur @ The Ringwald

(4/9/2011)

WARNING: Mercury Fur contains strong language and several explicit and disturbing scenes.

In a lawless ravaged city, Elliot and his brother Darren (played by real brothers Jon and Nico Ager) have been planning a party. The boys and their team survive by realizing their clients’ darkest fantasies. But as the light fades and the event spirals out of control, it becomes clear the success of this particular party will guarantee not just their safety but their salvation. Mercury Fur is funny, bleak, unsettling…and utterly unforgettable.

Mercury Fur, Philip Ridley’s fifth play, premiered in 2005 at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory and the play was deemed so shocking that audience members walked out each night. The controversy continued as Ridley’s publishers for decades, Faber and Faber, refused to publish the text. It set critics at odds with one another with some calling it “Degraded” while others called it “A play you need to see.” Since its explosive premiere, Mercury Fur has been performed throughout the world. As we enter a new decade, with all its unease and moral dilemmas, this brutal vision of love and violence is more relevant than ever.

Mercury Fur is directed by Joe Plambeck and features Jon and Nico Ager, Alex D. Hill, Vince Kelley, Patrick O’Connor Cronin, Cassandra McCarthy, David Legato, and Scott Wilding. The production is Stage Managed by David B. Woitulewicz and the Set Design is by Katie Orwig. Fight Choreography is provided by David Early. Costumes by Vince Kelley. Additional music is provided by Frank J. Hampton, Thermenist.

Bridgette M. Redman of Encore MI wrote “MERCURY FUR is the stuff of nightmares…The play’s nightmare demands an attentive audience for it will not coddle them nor wait for them to figure out the complexities of this bleak future.” To read Redman’s full review, go to http://encoremichigan.com/article.html?article=4466.