'Weer' Off-Broadway review — till death do they share body parts in Natalie Palamides's solo comedy
Read our review of Weer off Broadway, written, directed, and performed by Natalie Palamides as the first theatre production at the newly renovated Cherry Lane Theatre.
Natalie Palamides is facing stage right. The audience can see her face, made up to look like a man’s, along with her open shirt and conspicuous chest hair. Her character, Mark, is telling a friend about the girl he met earlier that day. “She’s like my other half,” Mark says, and Palamides slides one of her well-timed side-eyes at the audience. Before we know it, she races over to the other side of the stage, now facing stage left, and we can see her other character, Christina: The other half of Palamides’ face and body is made up to look like a woman straight out of a '90s movie, butterfly clips and all.
This is the wonderfully weird world of Weer, the solo show written by, directed by, and starring Palamides. Using rom-com tropes and her own signature humor, she takes us through the lifetime of one couple’s relationship. Vacuous Mark and Christina may be parodies of the couples in movies like Notting Hill or How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, but Palamides’s skillful physical comedy brings each to life so vividly that sometimes it’s hard to remember they’re each only one half of her body.
For a story built on tropes, it’s nearly impossible to predict what Palamides has in store at any given moment. If you think one person playing two different people can’t act out an incredibly involved makeout session, or that the life-size plastic deer that crashes onto the stage will be the most shocking thing about Weer, think again. The absurdity continues to rise to levels that have the audience gasping. It’s Palamides’s fearlessness and willingness to bare it all that make us trust her with whatever comes next.
The finale, with a seemingly endless string of death fakeouts, eventually wore a little thin for this reviewer — but only after what must have been the seventh or eighth, an impressive dedication to silliness on Palamides’s part to rival that of Monty Python.
Weer summary
Weer takes place on New Year’s Eve, 1999 (“Y2K!” Mark insists on intoning). It opens on a couple, Mark and Christina, in the middle of a bad breakup. Over the course of a fraught night, their entire relationship flashes before their (and our) eyes, beginning at their meet-cute three years earlier in 1996. Their relationship plays out in a series of 1990s rom-com tropes, in both an homage to and, moreso, a parody of the genre.
Palamides acts the part of boyfriend Mark with one half of her body and the part of girlfriend Christina with the other half, switching which half of her body is facing the audience depending on which character is speaking.
What to expect at Weer
Weer has the distinction of being the first production to run at the newly reopened Cherry Lane Theatre, which closed in 2023 for renovations under new owners A24. Before coming through Cherry Lane’s famous red doors, Weer ran at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was awarded best show by the List Festival Awards.
Weer is deliciously visceral, and at times it feels like Palamides could rip down tarps or yank on ropes until the end of time to reveal some new, unexpected prop or detail. Shortly into the story, Palamides is already dancing through an explosion of fake flowers and orange juice — to say nothing of the talcum powder innovatively worked in later on.
Be warned that there is both a literal and a metaphorical splash zone. If you’re sitting in the former, you may get a special Weer poncho. For the latter, you’re at the mercy of Palamides herself.
Maybe it’s Palamides’s easy rapport with the audience or the way she consistently includes them in the story, but Weer soon began to feel like a collective experience. My audience couldn’t help but audibly react to everything from the excellently chosen '90s jams to the physical stunts. “This is the funniest thing I’ve ever…” someone behind me choked out before dissolving into laughter again.
What audiences are saying about Weer
At the time of publication, Weer has a 90% approval rating on Show-Score, compiled from two positive reviews. Audience members there and on social media are praising Palamides’s physical comedy and liberal breaking of the fourth wall.
- “A Rom-Com of slapstick proportions.” - Show-Score user aka
- “Absolutely incredible show; this is creativity and comic genius at its best” - Instagram user @lynnt1234
- “Natalie Palamides has created something exceptionally special here.” - Show-Score user MeganG
Read more audience reviews of Weer on Show-Score.
Who should see Weer
- Lovers of out-there comedies like Oh, Mary! will appreciate Palamides’s over-the-top silliness.
- Fan of one-person shows can’t miss Weer, though Palamides so skillfully brings both characters to life that it’s easy to forget you’re watching a single performer.
- Fans of 90s rom-coms will appreciate all the tropes that show up in Weer, only to be skewered, stretched thin, or beaten to death by Mark and Christina.
Learn more about Weer off Broadway
Palamides’ utter silliness and invention come together in a one-woman show unlike any you may have seen before.
Photo credit: Weer off Broadway. (Photos courtesy of production/A24)
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