'Weird' is like a totally
                   tense, violent thriller

                   By ARLINE GREER
                   Sun theater critic 

                   At the Hippodrome State Theatre, William
                   Mastrosimone's edgy thriller "Like Totally
                   Weird" winds around the circle in which art
                   imitates life; life imitates art; art imitates life ....
                   With this built-in Catch-22, the play, meant to
                   deliver message scoring the damaging effects of
                   movie and TV violence on young people
                   actually mimes what it deplores. 

                   If "Like Totally Weird" is seen solely as a
                   superbly crafted suspense thriller, let's say a
                   "Wait Until Dark" for our time, there's no doubt
                   it's right up there with terrifying suspense.
                   However, if Mastrosimone expects the play to
                   sock home to a desensitized society that TV
                   and movie violence create child monsters who
                   can't distinguish between fantasy and reality, his
                   success is qualified. 

                   There are no good guys in this compelling
                   one-acter. (No intermission either, but with the
                   action moving so forcefully, its lack is a plus.)
                   Two dumbed-down, ratty teen-age boys,
                   Kenny and Jimmy, have gotten past the security
                   at Hollywood mogul Russ Rigel's home. They
                   take up residence. Rigel, a fast-talking,
                   unprincipled operator, is on the phone when the
                   two enter. His live-in lady, actress Jennifer
                   Barton, is upstairs. The boys hear a tape of
                   Rigel's hit movie, "Primodial Rage," and act out
                   the movie's last scene word for word. 

                   They know every word, not just of this movie
                   but of all Rigel's violent films. Why have they
                   come? What do they want? What will it take to
                   make them leave? The entire violent content of
                   the play is but a precursor for their eye-popping
                   departure. 

                   "Like Totally Weird" begins with seemingly
                   off-the-wall comedy and gradually, insiduously
                   builds to a kind of insanity that might be at home
                   in theater of the absurd. As the two punks strut
                   out their Charles Manson T-shirts and describe
                   the brutal killing of a pet, all the while waving
                   guns at Rigel and Barton, it becomes apparent
                   that at least one of them has lost touch with
                   reality. Kenny's brutal behavior mirrors what he
                   has seen in Rigel's movies. 

                   The question then becomes can violent movies,
                   TV and video games so influence children as to
                   make them unable to differentiate between
                   fantasy and reality? When they enter the fantasy
                   world will they become killers, emulating what
                   they've seen glorified in the media? 

                   If children find violent movies a turn-on, then
                   what's to be said about "Like Totally Weird," as
                   violent a play as the movies it deplores? If
                   Mastrosimone had equipped the play with just
                   one good guy, one moral truth, "Like Totally
                   Weird" could have transcended its super action
                   thriller genre. 

                   As is, the Hippodrome pulls out all the stops in
                   a pitch-perfect production. With Lauren
                   Caldwell directing, the action moves from
                   clammy unease to out and out terror. The boys,
                   Kevin Blake as the crazed Kenny, and
                   Cameron Francis as Jimmy, are nothing short of
                   superb. They are funny, pathetic, mean,
                   dangerous. And you can't take your eyes off
                   them throughout the play. 

                   As Rigel, Mark Kincaid is properly slimy and
                   totally unprincipled. Mindy Feedham is an
                   attractive Jennifer Barton, and has one of the
                   play's genuinely funny moments describing a
                   video game. 

                   The show's opulent set of a bi-level Hollywood
                   home was designed by James Martin. At first
                   glance, its glanour makes you think you'd like to
                   pay it a visit. By the time "Like Totally Weird"
                   spins to its out-of-control conclusion, you'd just
                   as soon flee the scene. 
 
 

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