Mr. Marmalade: One Sticky Jam Of Child Abuse and Dark Comedy

By Roland Finger
Staff Writer

Playwright Noah Haidle’s “Mr. Marmalade” poses some tough questions. How much do young children really understand about decidedly adult subjects—items like one-night stands, sexual infidelity, hyper-materialism, drug addiction, abusive relationships, infanticide, and suicide?

The main character, a four-year-old girl named Lucy, has a flawed mother, who neglects her daughter and leaves her with an insecure, nympho babysitter. One upside to Lucy’s upbringing is at least she is not a victim of pedophilia or incest. Such a plot would have gone over the edge even for a dark comedy. Lucy frequently has to take care of herself, holding down the house alone; this is a recipe for childhood emotional trouble.

Lucy doesn’t play with Barbies very often. Instead, this lonely and precocious girl wraps herself up in a world of sordid adult subject matter, apparently derived from her mother’s promiscuity, soap operas, and general absorption of a sexualized culture.

Lucy creates a creepy imaginary friend, Mr. Marmalade, a lover who brings her problems and fears. Is he cheating on her? Does he work too many hours? Is he emotionally unavailable to her?

Actor Blaine Edwards makes a powerful imaginary friend, one who is abusive and snorts too much coke. He really should stay off the horse as well. At one point, Mr. Marmalade has the hots for Lucy’s mom, particularly when he imagines her in her skimpy red dress.

Lucy comes up with imaginary friends to try to work through the problems that make up her family life; she conducts therapy on herself over the course of a night and morning, living through an accelerated adult drama.

We expect children to be innocent, but they pick up on more details than adults care to admit. The play honestly reveals that adults are more naïve about children than children are about adults.

The play is a little disturbing at times, even if it is a sometimes comical window into the world of an unsheltered child. Director Amy Bouthilet gives us a biting play that does not shy away from controversy.

Lucy is forced to be too independent. Her screwed up New Jersey mother, Sookie, not to be confused with Jersey Shore’s Snookie, should be reported to Child Protective Services. Lucy wants to play kid games, have an imaginary tea party and play house, but inappropriate sexuality interferes with her childhood. We can consider this to be childhood exploration, but it goes too far for comfort.

While the baby-sitter has sex with her boyfriend, Lucy plays doctor with a five-year-old suicidal boy, Larry. They cross a line, involving removed pants and some crotch grabbing, that most parents would want to prevent. Never fear: the actors, I’m glad to say, are adults.

Erin Behrman plays Lucy with impressive depth, pushing us toward some difficult-to-face ideas. But Lucy and Larry do seem to help each other finally, opening the possibility for genuine young friendship, one that might even focus on acceptable childhood play.

While Larry mostly comes off as a young and overly needy suicidal maniac, he does show some guts when he defends Lucy from Mr. Marmalade’s abuse. It is a nice convention that Lucy and Larry can see and hear each other’s imaginary friends, a world that adults are denied.

These kookie kids, Lucy and Larry, have to learn to be children in a screwed up modern world.

The play’s striking commentary could lead parents to shield their kids too much, perhaps not such a bad idea for children who have not even started kindergarten. But too much sheltering also has its dangers because the bubble is bound to burst. Later is better than sooner.

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If You Go

What: Mr. Marmalade
Where: Askanase Auditorium, NDSU
When: Nov 18-21, W-Sa 7:30pm, Su 2pm
Info: Box office, 701.231.7969