You Haven’t Seen Anything Like Fingerella Before
The Phnom Penh Players are brewing something special at the Speakeasy Theatre, a bawdy adult-only pantomime aptly named Fingerella that will hit the stage Friday night and run for a total of four shows over two weekends.
If you’re not sure what a pantomime is – I had to Google it – it’s a pseudo-musical, but that’s not really the point.
There are some good tunes with raunchy lyrics laid over some familiar riffs like Dolly Parton’s Nine to Five and a nice sexy duet to the Chili Peppers’ Under the Bridge. However, the fun here is in the dialogue.
As the actors gathered at the SpeakEasy Theatre attested at Tuesday night’s dress rehearsal, it’s impressive how many different synonyms for sex terms writer, director, and Box Office owner Paul Glew could conjure up for the show. You’ll have to attend one of the shows to hear them all yourself.
“I have a troubled mind and a troublesome Google search history,” Glew said of his knack for inventing a book’s worth of innuendos.
Fingerella takes place in Pantomania, a magical world filled with impotent lads and yearning lasses seemingly stuck in the strange land. The play’s namesake, Fingerella, is perhaps the most desperate of the bunch. She spends much of the play lusting after Jack, the 30-year-old virgin lone orphan at an orphanage run by a hilarious cross-dressing character named Nannie, played by Arttu Karppanen.
He said of the five plays he’s appeared in, four of them have been in a dress. As he stuffed a wet towel into his bosom before he jumped on stage, he told me: “This is the most inappropriate play thus far…”
A Zany Cast of Characters
The baroness, a snappy and saucy royal lady who relishes in lambasting her sycophantic husband, is seeking to get the hell out of Pantomania and also wants a baby.
Denver Gibson plays the baron, and he said acting in Fingerella was quite a departure from his past plays which include McBeth and Hamlet.
“I’m looking forward to everyone being shocked, horrified, and laughing until they hurt themselves,” he said.
Glew plays the lone reluctant cow in the play, tasked with making milk and ice cream for Pantomania’s inhabitants. He makes his famous rum and raisin ice cream by chugging black rum and eating a handful of raisins before his udders are wrung dry. Glew only gave himself one line for the entire show, but he milks it for all its worth.
Dreaming up Pantomania
The entire play is a whimsical and risqué foray into a weird world only Glew could imagine.
“I’ve always had this in the back of my mind. COVID, and not being able to have kids involved made it possible. Thank you COVID,” he said.
About the creation of the fictional world, he said: “Pantomania was the brain fart of the ever-petulant Zacharius Kendall in his years with the Players. When he left Cambodia he left the city gates unlocked and we took over.”
It’s worth going for the banter between the baron and his butler Scuds, a fun-loving man of mischief who has some of the funniest lines in the show. There will be some audience participation involved as well, including a drinking game that runs throughout and a special scene that should really get your rocks off.
The actors are all charismatic to boot, and it’s hard not to be pulled into the fantasy. You’re actually pulled in regardless, as the audience is part of the play, the first visitors to Pantomania in 20 years. Each character puts their own unique stamp on the show, and they come together to create probably the wackiest cast of actors ever assembled.
It’s true that the play isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s a two-hour double entendre rollercoaster, but if you can deal with that, it’s a hoot. Tickets are available now for $10 and proceeds will go to Rainbow Community Kampuchea Organisation (ROCK), an organisation dedicated to empowering the LGTBIQ community in Cambodia.
Author: Leon Havana
A trained chef and sports aficionado with extensive experience across South America and Asia. Leon’s culinary creations celebrate local flavors, while his love for sports like football and boxing connects him with local communities.
