Cherry Hill
nytheatre.com review by Josh Sherman
July 23, 2008
I have to assume that Cherry Hill, a play written and directed by Matt Okin, is designed to be a comedic satire of the secrets behind suburban hedges. Unfortunately, for me, every single attempt at humor and/or satire fails spectacularly, and Cherry Hill succeeds only in managing to offend.
The plot of Cherry Hill is thin to begin with, as a college student returns home after graduation to find work with his buddy at a movie theater. His friend's mother is a widow, and his own father is a widower. The student falls in love with the town tramp/hooker, who spends most of her time sleeping with his dad. Eventually, the widow and widower are set up as a couple, while the student pines for the tramp.
Along the way, the audience is subjected to various short scenes of unappealing oral sex, rape, incest, fake beatings, death and the most unlikely homosexual couple that has ever graced the stage. I didn't find any of this satirical, amusing, touching, or even remotely believable. Frankly, I found Cherry Hill to be tasteless, unfunny, and pointless.
