SOURCE: A review of Control Freaks, in Variety, Vol. 351, No. 13, August 9, 1993, p. 35.

In the following mixed review, Jacobs maintains that Control Freaks “is often as darkly hilarious as it is startling.”

Control Freaks is almost surely the first R-rated play to use the services of Flying by Foy. Beth Henley's latest comedy, a mixture of sexual perversity and serial acrobatics, is often as darkly hilarious as it is startling.

Henley falters in the final scenes, when she unwisely attempts to shift the mood radically and explain her characters' bizarre behavior. But the play contains wonderful writing, and the production proves she is an excellent director of her own work.

As the play opens, Carl Willard (Bill Pullman) has just brought home his fourth wife, Betty (Carol Kane). Her presence annoys his sister, known only as Sister (Holly Hunter).

Carl, whose surface attempts to embody coolness hide his increasing...