HELMET HEART WRITTEN UP IN LAIST

Helmet Heart

HELMET HEART

Kathy Fischer’s one-act comedy gets off to an ingenious start with a video projection of events unfolding through the eyes of lead character Addie (Kim Chase). Her husband tells her he’s leaving her for his personal assistant Monica, and she reacts by trying to force her engagement ring down her throat before blacking out.

Watching these events unfold in horror live onstage is the shackled figure of Cupid (Robbie Rittman), who’s soon joined by the choking Addie as she enters the playing area, which we soon recognize is the domain of her own psyche. Pissed at how her marriage has come to an end, Addie’s first order of business is to kill Cupid. Before she can do that, however, various people from her life—including her mother (Jeanette O’Connor), her psychologist (Todd Aaron Brotze), her unhelpful best friend (Maria Russell) and her “darkside” (Corina Boettger)—all show up with advice for her about love and relationships. Hearing all these other voices in her head, Addie realizes that Cupid may not actually be the source of her problems, after all.

It’s a funny premise, and the lively ensemble cast, directed by Fischer’s husband, Rees Pugh, pulls it off in barely more running time than a sitcom episode.

HELMET HEART at the Ruby Theatre in the Complex Hollywood, 6476 Santa Monica
Blvd., through June 27

http://laist.com/2015/06/11/fringe_fest_2015_previews.php