Marina (Little Island)

Little Island trimmed down their programming this summer. I think they're looking to cut down on their expenses but in this maritime production that happened to be on a rainy night, they provided good quality disposal ponchos. This is my second outing to the Amphitheater and this was certainly the stranger production. A commission by the Whitney Biennial, Marina is a world premiere by Martine Gutierrez, who stars as the titular Marina, and Julio Torres, who wrote and directed the hour-long play. I was a little deceived because I thought Torres would be in it. There is even a role that should have been played by Julio--a character that rolls around the stage on its stomach. All the under-the-sea characters use spooky voices. Their costumes are absurd. I mean, I don't know what a sea wench is supposed to look like so the production designers ran wild. This ain't no Disney-fied little mermaid. It is funny in a Torres kind of way. It's weird, not for everyone. I don't think it's as incisive or funny as his other work. But it has its moments. Just as Ariel collects human thingamabobs from the surface, Marina comes across a smartphone and promptly creates an OKCupid profile to catfish unsuspecting human men who she slays when they realize the deception. Before we started, we were a little surprised that the play was so short but I think an hour is honestly the right length for a show that's so out there. I was also led to believe it was a musical. While it has a score by Lia Ouyang Rusli (who wrote the music or Happyend) there aren't really songs. Glad to have seen it anyway!