Wick offer “very funny play about very unfunny things”

Spokeswoman Susanne Crosby said: “It’s a dark, demented American comedy with an unsettling domestic drama at its heart, yet amidst its madness and bleak humour, it relishes in providing oddly poignant moments.

“Fuddy Meers revolves around Claire, a sunny amnesiac who starts each day as a blank slate on which her husband and teenage son must imprint the facts of her life. On this particular day, the mayhem begins with Claire’s abduction by a limping, lisping man who claims that her husband is dangerous.

“The memorable menagerie of characters she meets on the quest for her truth also includes Claire's stroke-afflicted, aphasic mother, a strange man with a foul-mouthed puppet alter ego and a police officer. The audience experiences Claire’s day from her memory-addled perspective as she tries to put the pieces together, navigating her kaleidoscopic world in which nothing is as it seems, no one can be trusted and even fewer people can be understood.

“Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and recent Tony award winner David Lindsay-Abaire has crafted a beautifully absurd play about pain, identity, miscommunication, and, ultimately, the courageous confrontation of a traumatic past. This is an unforgettable story about a woman who can’t remember hers.”

Director Jacqueline Harper says that her directorial debut with Wick Theatre Company had to be Fuddy Meers: “I found the script for Fuddy Meers at a used bookstore when I was a teenager and have loved it ever since. Never having had the opportunity to see a production of the show, I knew it had to be my first play as a director. What better way to see it than to make it.

“The play was an award-winning, off-Broadway success but is far less well-known in the UK. As a result, Sussex audiences will be treated to a wildly unpredictable, darkly funny play that rarely graces these shores.

Fuddy Meers runs from Wednesday, March 13 to Saturday, March 16 at 7.45 each evening. Book through the Wick Theatre website: www.wicktheatre.co.uk or Ticket Source 0333 666 3366 (transaction fee applies on telephone bookings). Note there are trigger warnings: domestic abuse, drug use, gun shots and a foul-mouthed puppet. Age restrictions: unsuitable for those under 15.

Cast list: Claire – Nicola Russell; Richard – Giles Newlyn-Bowmer; Kenny – Ethan Dryer; Limping Man – Dan Dryer; Gertie – Susanne Crosby; Millet – Guy Steddon; and Heidi – Clea Proud.

David Lindsay-Abaire is an American playwright, lyricist and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2007 for his play Rabbit Hole, which earned Tony nominations.