Review of Fight City at The Factory Theater

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Fight City. It was by Scott OKen and it was directed by Jill Oliver. It was about a dystopian future where women are in charge and men are degraded and oppressed. It is about how if one gender is in power, even if it isn't the one in charge now, it doesn't mean everything would be better. The problem with society is inequality not who is in charge. It is about a woman named Barb (Jennifer Betancourt) who is a cop in this society where women are in power because there had been a disease that affected only men. Her mother Margaret (Mandy Walsh) used to be a fighter extraordinaire on the force, but one of her former students, Erica (Kim Boler), has gone rogue. So Barb and her partner Janet (Almanya Narula) go on a mission to find Erica and stop her from her evildoing. And a man, Weatherfoot (Harrison Weger), has just been placed on the police force which is very unusual, and he has to prove himself to the force and his boss (Jen Bosworth). I thought this show had a compelling story and world with really good fights (by fight directors Maureen Yasko and Chris Smith).

I thought all the fights were really well done. One of my favorite fights was the one where Margaret confronts Valentine (Susan Wingerter), Erica's engineer who has created this gun. Guns are forbidden in this reality. Valentine and her posse discover Janet and Margaret having a heart to heart and decide to ruin that by shooting at them. Margaret spits out a tooth and there is lots of face-bashing-in. It was very violent and it was super badass and I really liked watching it. It was sort of gross, but it was awesome to see women kicking butt, and you don't see women fighting ruthlessly that often in plays and movies. I also thought that Weatherfoot's fight with Steele (Eric Frederickson) was super awesome and it was part of the big buildup to the fight with Barb and Erica. I think it really added a lot to the intensity of the final scene. I think the ending battle with Erica really utilized everyone in the scene but not so much that it took away from the duel between the mortal enemies Barb and Erica. There is one character who is dead by this time who I really wish would have been involved; it didn't ruin the fight for me, but it would have added an emotional element to the end of the show. The death added to Barb's motivation, but I thought of another way she could have been motivated by a different character dying. I felt like it would have added to the effectiveness of the final scene if you got a little bit of an epilogue so it wasn't just that the fight ends and then the show ends.

I thought it was a really interesting concept that this world would be sexist toward men. The way they portrayed it was really good because it made me sad just like I would feel if the sexism was directed toward women. That shows that it was really good writing because it made me feel bad for them even though in our society right now men are the people in power. I think that Relf (Josh Zagoren) was a particularly good example of this. The actor did a really good job of portraying him as someone who was vulnerable but not feminine. He was a man but his demeanor was smaller. That is what made it powerful when he was being treated like crap all the time; he was clearly scared in an actual way. One scene that really got to me was when he came into the squad room in the police station with bruises all over him and no one ever seemed to notice the bruises. That really reminded me of things that happen to women today; they show up somewhere and something is clearly wrong, but people don't pay attention. Not all the men are defenseless though. Verne (Frederickson) can fend for himself and he starts a campaign for men's rights. He has this speech at the end of the show that is going on when the end battle is happening. It was really motivational because while this violent fight is going on in one corner, he is talking about the future of this world and how he is going to try and make it better. I liked that the men's rights group had a woman (Grace Odumosu) in it, but I wished that one of the main characters had been masculinist too. It was kind of hard to root for people who were grabbing men's butts without consent all the time. Weatherfoot is just trying to follow the rules of the system; he isn't really an activist. It was upsetting how he keeps being objectified by the women just because he's there.

I thought it was really interesting how the relationship between Janet and Margaret was all about looking out for Barbara. They were both mother figures even though only Margaret was her actual mother. I also liked how Margaret had taught Janet everything she knew, which made Margaret more of a mentor toward her. I wanted to see more of this relationship and more of each of their relationships with Barb. I would have also liked to delve deeper into Margaret's backstory with Erica. That is a common problem in shows that are generally based around fights, but I think they could have made it a bit longer and given more time to develop those relationships.

People who would like this show are people who like alternate realities, badass fights, and spitting out teeth. I think people should go see this show. It is a lot of fun to experience. I really enjoyed the fights and the universe the show puts you in.


Photos: Michael Courier