‘The Penningtons’ Review: Rich, Classy, and Murderous

“The Penningtons,” an original comedy written by Rave S. Andrews ’25, uses dark humor to cast a witty light on the grimness of death and grief that haunts an eccentric family. Rich, classy, and emotionally unstable, the Penningtons have a contention at hand: Their father will soon pass away, beneficiaries must be chosen, and the next owner of the Pennington business remains to be seen.

Although space was limited at the Loeb Experimental Theater, the portrayal of three different rooms of the Pennington property was beautifully executed due to the attention to detail. Posters lined the walls of Char’s (Tia A. KwanBock ’25) room, and an overflowing laundry basket was stationed by her bed. Dark tones of red, purple, and blue tinted the living room curtains and furniture, while bottles of liquor and shot glasses on the parlor counter brought to life the residency of an influential 1970s family. As the audience walked in to find their seats, the characters were already positioned with ease on the set, such that no curtain or platform marked the separation between the crowd and the story.

The show began with a bright follow-spot illuminating Fitch Pennington’s (Kai C.W. Lewis ’27, a Crimson Arts editor) face as he broke the fourth wall and began the story’s narration, assuring the audience that they were in for a night of murder, luxury, and laughter. As the siblings — Char, Fitch, and Daniel (James J. Farr ’25) — began interacting with each other, the tone of the conversations and their physical expression immediately established Daniel as an outsider.

Daniel’s antagonistic personality was accentuated by his clothing’s different color scheme — most notorious whenever the four Penningtons were onstage together, during which Daniel’s dark gray suit and wine colored shirt contrasted with the blues and whites that the rest of the family wore — and entrenched by his jocose monologue about starving for power, during which the intensity of Farr’s facial expressions and the madness in his eyes made up for the lack of intonation changes.

The show’s comedic atmosphere improved when the Penningtons’ father (Kavi M. Gasper ’28) walked onto the stage, delivering his jokes with authenticity. The story’s pace also picked up when Daniel mistakenly stabbed Char in the eye during a failed attempt at murdering his father. As she wrestled with the fear of dying, she addressed the audience for the first time. This made Char the one in the spotlight, which proved a pivotal moment in the show as its thematic intention started coming to life. Char’s character began to realize she was nothing but that — a character.

Throughout the rest of the show, this awareness developed into an interesting interplay between the topics of grief and life. This became clearest when Char overcame her fear of death, which culminated in a simultaneously heartwarming and whimsical scene during which she and her deceased mother (Milena J. Manocchia ’28) held hands as they shouted out “life” and “death,” allowing the words to become meaningless and get lost in the midst of their laughter.

It was during the second half of the show when the creativity underlying its production really shone through. In a series of touching letters from Fitch to his love interest, Guinead, which were presented as monologues, Lewis displayed the best of his acting, and Guinead’s (John “Jack” F. Griffin ’25) response similarly shone. From his quivering voice to the shine of dried tears in his cheeks and constant sniffling, it was truly easy to feel the heartbreak of Griffin’s character.

The emotional whirlwind after Char’s tragic death was oddly one of the most entertaining scenes: The dead mother appeared, Ella Fuzzgerald the Ferret (Sarah E. Yee ’28) performed an incredibly sassy dance number, and Lisa (Maibritt M. Henkel ’25) made her debut as the ultimate diva bride. Though the loose ends were not tied up and the resolution of the story was unclear, “The Penningtons” embodied the idea that, as the Penningtons’ mother put it, “not all art has to matter or mean something deeper. Some art can just be fun.”

“The Penningtons” ran at the Loeb Experimental Theater from Oct. 17 to Oct. 20.

—Staff writer Nicole M. Hernández Abud can be reached at nicole.hernandez@thecrimson.com.