Unicorn "Hungry" review by LindsayAdams

'Hungry' leaves its audience satisfied
Rating: 4

Hungry
Unicorn Theatre

The world premiere of "Hungry" at the Unicorn is a wild play that shifts and morphs until one is not quite sure what one experienced. "Hungry" is a bizarre tale of growing up and becoming an adult in the most unpredictable way.

Amy, played by Dina Thomas, is a sophomore in high school who is plagued by the same self-doubt and insecurities that many girls experience, such as unrealistic body expectations and impossible standards of beauty. She wants to make the dance team of her high schools and as the tryouts she is desperate to lose weight so that she won't be turned down from the team like she was last year when she tried out.

She is dieting and constantly hungry, until her friend, the popular and seemingly stereotypical mean girl Bianca, played by Chioma Anyanwu, gives her illegal dieting pills from Mexico that work inordinately quickly, with the added caveat that if you take too many you start to have hallucinations. Amy soon gets hooked on the pills, as does her lonely mother, Katharine, played by Katie Gilchrist, after confiscating them from her daughter.

Then one night a Minotaur, played by Jeff Smith, appears at her window. Amy takes him in and they quickly bond into a strange friendship, until it becomes clear that he is much more trouble than Amy anticipated and has much different tastes.

UMKC Alum Dina Thomas's spot-on performance of the early teenage Amy, brought a fresh comedy to her character and her interactions with the other characters. She imbued Amy with a sense of shyness and sarcasm that was adorable and endearing. Chioma Anyanwu and Katie Gilchrist elevated what could have been very cliché comedic characters into living, breathing people. Jeff Smith's clever juggling of the both loveable and imposing minotaur was a thrill to behold. His expressive physicality and exploration of non-verbal grunts to communicate were elaborate and comedic. He is so disarming that it is easy to forget that the minotaur is a human-eating monster.

The plot is riddled with interesting and plaguing ambiguities. Is the Minotaur real or is he the product of their drug addled brains? Each person must decide for themselves. There are no easy answers and the twist at the end only cements the uncertainty of the message and theme. The important and serious themes are offset by bizarre mixed with everyday situations. The opening scene is Bianca reading off a list of disgusting foods trying to get Amy to throw up her meal into the toilet.

Playwright Lia Romeo has the incredible talent of turning something serious into comedy. This black comedy makes the audience laugh while people are dying and teenagers are popping pills. It is a dysfunctional and disturbing look at the realities of the three females, Bianca, Katharine, and Amy, who are trying to find their way through a world that is constantly beating them down and telling them to beat each other down.

While the interactions are very much based in reality, the reactions to the minotaur and the slow unraveling of the plot are inexplicable, and yet perfect. "Hungry" is a ferocious and ravenous show that must be seen to be believed.