Venus Attacks

by David Anthony Fox

No, it's not science fiction. This is Venus-the-personification-of-women (think John Gray's "men are women are " books). The "attack" is designed to help downtrodden females find their inner goddesses.

Venus Attacks is the brainchild of two funny ladies, Debbie Kasper and Sheila Kay. They wrote the script and play all the roles, and have devised a good idea: an entertainment that is a mock empowerment seminar for women, thus allowing them to skewer a richly deserving subject, and to portray a variety of characters (all represent wacky seminar presenters) within this frame.

The show seems oriented to a female audience, but since City Paper's resident theater Venus (Toby Zinman, that is) was otherwise engaged, Venus was left in the hands of Mars (specifically, mine).

Oh well. Maybe I'm not such a bad fit. I'm a gay Martian, at least -- and I'm from Southern California, the self-help capital! And recently, I've taken to watching Starting Over on TV, and wondering how Rhonda the Life Coach could refashion something from the messy shards of my personality

As it turns out, the Venus audience was about 50/50 men and women, and all seemed to enjoy it equally.

For me, I'd have to say that the seminar framing device was a bit of a bust. Oh, Kasper and Kay have the rhetoric down, certainly ("Don't hang back with yester-you!" they caution. "Get ready for "you-morrow!"). What's missing here is the complex tone -- haranguing one minute, confessionally tearful the next -- that really is the hallmark of such events.

On the other hand, a couple of the stand-up characters and bits are terrific, especially Zelda Bing, a plump Midwestern housewife with awesome sexual self-confidence, and Carmella (sic) Gambino, a Mafiosa in the midst of what seems like a 15-minute hot flash.

So, it's a hit-and-miss evening, and one whose success relies greatly on the enthusiasm of the audience. On opening night, at least, that was considerable.

Producer Phil Roy and the Society Hill Playhouse have made something of a specialty of these He vs. She shows (The Male Intellect was another). I guess they make good dating entertainment (or that's the idea, anyway). I can say that Venus is better than most shows of this ilk, and at 80 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome.

VENUS ATTACKS

Through May 30, Society Hill Playhouse, 507 S. Eighth St., 215-923-0210

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