By ELIZABETH SCHABINGER
The Bedwetter, based on Sarah Silverman’s memoir of the same name, is an intimate look at Silverman’s year as a 10-year-old. In The Bedwetter, Sarah is a fifth grader in a new town with newly-divorced parents, a filthy mouth (thanks, dad!), and nocturnal enuresis.
We follow a year in the life of Sarah as she navigates finding new friends at school, seeing new doctors, trying new treatments, and seeking to understand her relationship with each of her family members. Think Fun Home but instead of “family struggles with sexuality,” it’s “family struggles with mental health.”
Only Sarah Silverman (who co-wrote the book and lyrics) could make a 10-year-old being prescribed Xanax funny, and it is truly hilarious as larger than life Xanax pills dance across the stage and a dream version of pageant winner Miss New Hampshire (played by Ashley Blanchet) gives advice to young Sarah, played triumphantly by Aria Kane.
Kane shines as foul-mouthed (and she knows it!) Sarah, proudly belting out who she is and what she knows to her new, not-so-nice, fifth grade teacher, played by Alysha Umphress. Sarah quickly makes new friends at school with mean girl classmates played by young actresses Emerson Holt Lacayo, Alina Santos, and Elin Joy Seiler.
Sarah’s home life is rocky, as her parents, played by Darren Goldstein and Shoshana Bean, figure out how to co-parent after a divorce. Avery Harris plays Sarah’s older sister, who loves her younger sister at home but doesn’t want to be seen with her at school. Liz Larsen is a force of comedy as Sarah’s grandmother. The real highlight is her off-color Genghis Khan joke that only gets funnier the longer it goes.
The small cast of five children and six adults carries this story, with some of the adults doubling roles. Rick Crom as “any male character that isn’t dad” especially shines as the two “doctors” who attempt to treat Sarah’s nighttime bedwetting.
The capsule set design by David Korins beautifully highlights the family’s mental health struggles. Each of the parents’ homes has different parts of the set that get pulled down or pushed out. The bar at dad’s house features prominently when Nana is around.
Dad’s cheap women’s clothing store commercials are depicted as a shiny gold backdrop revealed by opening the main set walls. Sarah’s mom consistently enters and exits the stage laying in her bed, which enters through the back wall. Each adult has personal struggles that are accentuated by a specific fixture on the set: alcoholism, sex, and depression.
The Bedwetter is so ludicrous it could only be based on real life. The jokes come fast and loose, which makes the mental health struggles only hit harder. It’s not very often you see depictions of mental health struggles for children, and this musical handles the topic with sensitivity to go along with humor. This is a story set in a specific time and place, but it feels timeless in its themes of acceptance of who you are and how to make the best of what you’ve got.
If you see The Bedwetter, you’ll not only have a fun night at the theater, you’ll come out singing “I’m a bedwetter” too.
The Bedwetter (1 hour 45 minutes with no intermission) plays at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, 1101 6th St SW, through March 16. For tickets click here.
