Funny Mirrors

A woman, a limping man, a sock puppet. From every open corkboard to available wall space on campus these words appeared on the advertisements for SUNY Fredonia’s Department of Theater and Dance production of “Fuddy Meers”.
For the past two weeks people have been flocking to Bartlett Theater to catch a glimpse into the lives of quite a few zany characters. The play follows Claire, a chronic amnesiac who wakes every morning with a blank slate, as she tries to get through the day with the help of her husband Richard, son Kenny, her mother Gertie and a few other, less than savory, characters.
The play was written by David Lindsay-Abaire and was first produced by the Manhattan Theater Club in 1999-2000. It was rather well received in North America playing to sold out crowds. Ben Brantly of the “New York Times” described it as a “dark, sweet and thoroughly engaging comedy.” During the play’s initial run Lindsay-Abaire was awarded the John Gassner Playwrighting Award and a Heilpern Award for Most Promising Dramatist.
“Fuddy Meers” certainly falls into the category of dark comedy, getting most of its laughs at the expense of its character’s shortcomings and disabilities. To name a few, there’s Claire’s son Kenny who is faced with dyslexia and more anger than your average teenager, her mother who survived a stroke but lost the ability to speak clearly and is at times impossible to understand, her mysterious kidnapper who walks with a limp and a hunch, talks with a lisp, has a dangerous temper and a grotesquely deformed ear along with his accomplice who believes that the sock puppet on his hand actually has a mind of its own; and then there’s Claire herself with her memory, or lack thereof.
After my initial viewing of the play I was left feeling less than impressed. The idea of gaining laughs by exploiting the disabilities or flaws of others felt foul. This was, however, just an initial response. I realized that the comedy is just a side-note; it gave the play its entertainment value and a form for Lindsay-Abaire to showcase the less comedic, deeply-rooted theme. The audience is expected to go into the play thinking of it as just another portrait of a dysfunctional family and then leaves them asking themselves, what really makes a functional family? The play showcases the inaccuracies of the human idea of “normalcy” and how its importance has been overrated. By every character having their own flaw to portray, it demonstrates the idea that everyone has something that can be picked at. It is Gertie, Claire’s mother, through her jumbled speech who lays it out for us when reminiscing with Claire about their time spent at a carnival, especially in front of the “fuddy meers” or funny mirrors.
It is perfect symbolism for the way in which our view of identity has been skewed by society’s pursuit to standardize and conform. Throughout the play we see Claire grasping for some inkling of her identity as she is being tossed and turned while others try to create it for her. The lens through which she views her life is very much like looking into a funhouse mirror, twisted, distorted and almost impossible to tell what’s what.
Lindsay-Abaire shows us that it’s not really the answers about what your identity is or should be that are important, but how you go about finding them.