Photo by Jennifer Ring
Bruce Ryan Costella’s Rat Man character is part of a band of orphans who tried to rebuild Disney World after a pandemic apocalypse.
On the surface, “Rat Man Happy Place” is about a young boy whose parents were Disney tour guides before they perished from some mystery disease that killed all the parents.
Though I can easily sum up the “Rat Man Happy Place” plot in a single sentence, describing the full experience is a far greater challenge. I would argue that’s one of the best things about it. The Fringe program lists it as comedy. And while “Rat Man Happy Place” has several funny moments, I wouldn’t exactly call it a comedy. It’s more than that. The multigenre one-man show takes inspiration from the post-apocalyptic, Disney, storytelling, drama, and fringe theater genres.
It has Disney insider jokes, funny hats, audience participation, and hilariously cheap props. By the show's end, I’d collected a branch of fake foliage and a bright orange toy gun smaller than my hand.
Through Costella’s “Rat Man Happy Place,” I experienced Disney in a way I’ve never experienced Disney before: through the eyes of a young orphan who travels Florida in a post-apocalyptic world telling stories about the Happy Place.
Costella’s “Rat Man” character is part of a band of orphans who tried to rebuild Disney World after a pandemic apocalypse. But, like everything in our post-COVID world, it wasn’t the same.
For a Florida girl who grew up going to Disney once a year, “Rat Man Happy Place” is one of the most bizarre yet delightful trips down memory lane I’ve ever taken. It is also a subtle, quiet reflection on everything we’ve suffered at the hands of COVID-19. It’s been a rough few years. Through it all, “Rat Man Happy Place” reminds us that you can either laugh or you can cry. Choose to laugh at Tampa Fringe.
Tampa Fringe just announced a round up encore performances for “holdover” shows including a Saturday, 20 performance of “Rat Man Happy Place” at 7 p.m. inside the Fringe Theatre at Ybor City’s Kress Collective. Tickets to the show are $15, but a holdover show pass—allowing access to six shows between Friday-Sunday—is available for $86. Look below for a full list of Tampa Fringe holdover shows and visit tampafringe.thundertix.com to learn more.
Friday, May 19
- Cat Lim’s Deepest Darkest Secrets
- The Barn Identity
- Jon Bennett: American’t
- The Evolution of Consciousness
- The Sackquel: Sponsored Superhero
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