What I liked
Mallie McCown brings a boundless energy to her one-woman show that rockets along through the basic plot points of her favorite childhood movie, James Cameron’s 1997 sinking ship/doomed romance epic TITANIC, playing over a dozen distinct characters and frequently – and hilariously – enlisting members of the audience to help bring the shoestring production to life. Different hats (and mustaches) are whipped on and off with lightning speed; accents are thrown around willy-nilly; and water is occasionally splashed everywhere, including into the seats. All the boisterous good fun is shot through with an increasingly moving series of interludes into Mallie’s real-life adolescent journal, through which we learn of her difficult upbringing in a dysfunctional home, her determination not to give up on herself, and her ultimate pursuit of acting as a career. McCown does a lovely job tying together her experience with that of Rose Dawson, who found herself similarly trapped by circumstance and societal mores before finding inspiration in a free spirit (it didn’t hurt that he was charming and easy on the eyes!), and for whom an iceberg (despite nearly stealing the show from Mallie a couple of times) was never going to write the final chapter. It’s a metaphor, folks :)
What I didn't like
Mallie’s energy is unquestionable, but I think perhaps the strict Fringe format does her show a bit of a disservice. Her script is very dense, and trying to cram it all in, as well as involving unpredictable audience members at multiple points leads to a certain manic pacing that occasionally made it difficult for jokes to land, or even for some lines to be fully understood. Props – by necessity often flung about the stage – also occasionally got lost in the shuffle, which, though Mallie handled it just fine, must be frustrating. I can imagine that either cutting some material, or allowing the entire thing another 10 minutes or so, would be very helpful.
My overall impression
OH FUCK! AN ICEBERG is a riotously funny 90-minute, one woman (+ iceberg) distillation of a 3 hour epic disaster film through the lens of a difficult childhood, and, but for a minor pacing issue, it totally works. Grade: A-
