Review: Florida is the butt of the joke in Natalie Symons’ hilarious ‘Nightsweat’

The world premiere of Natalie Symons’ hilarious Nightsweat last Saturday evening at freeFall is quite accurately described in the program as “‘Bridesmaids’ meets ‘Halloween.’” And while the ever clever Ms. Symons takes aim throughout at many easy targets with great panache (Ron DeSantis, Ted Cruz), her script and cast take particular relish at making fun of Florida, much to the delight of the opening night crowd.

This is another example of a group of highly skilled artists at the top of their game. Director Eric Davis (also sets/costumes/sound/props) has assembled a dream cast and staged/designed this “unapologetic, irreverent comedy” to uproarious effect. There’s lots of schtick and laughs that you can see coming, but all the actors are so skilled and committed that the verbal and physical comedy still lands with huge belly laughs.

B-level musical actress Britney Cox (Kristin Carbone) has been canceled on social media due to complications with her appearance as Ursula in “The Little Mermaid.” Her anxious young assistant, Maude Bender (Heather Baird) has booked a girl’s weekend getaway to hide from the haters at a Berkshires’ AirBnB that features a “murder mystery weekend.” She’s joined by her makeup artist Tawny Fitzsimmons (Sara DelBeato) who is more than happy to get away from her boorish husband and her monstrous triplets. Britney’s security detail is a Black woman ex-cop, Dale James (Hillary Scales-Lewis) who reports that, surprise, the car’s tires have been slashed.

When the Bershire newspaper arrives, it warns that a serial killer is on the loose targeting “pre-elderly women,” which means that the entourage members, minus the young Maude, are all at risk. A mysterious landlady, Mrs. Bates (Jan Neuberger) and her pipe bomb building nephew Steven Paul (Joe Ditmyer) who lives in the basement and carries around an ax, complete the opportunities for comic mayhem.

And suffice it to say that nothing escapes Ms. Symons’ satirical spear. Wokeness, pronouns, white privilege, Ozempic, don’t say gay, horror movie tropes, fake news, Tucker Carlson, and on and on. Plus there’s a running gag about Hall & Oats that works every time. If you need a hearty evening of laughter, this one is for you.

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