REVIEW: An angst-ridden solo show about going solo

In her hour solo show “Separation Anxiety,” Mandy Schmieder plays nine characters who give her largely unwanted advice about her ailing marriage. While the talks she has with self-righteous friends, a perfectionist mother and an adrenaline-addled lesbian gym owner are funny and incisive, the universal truth is that each of us knows what is best, whether we’re ready to admit it or not.

The story is not a new one. A couple who seems happy from the outside splits up after committing years and years to the relationship. In this instance, Schmieder considers divorcing her husband of six years. They’d been dating for five years before that, a fact Schmieder’s mother reminds us of, not without contempt. Schmieder’s mother went to finishing school, stayed in a stale marriage and is consumed by genealogy. “There’s no divorce in the family,” she tells her daughter. Now there’s some support when you need it.

In one of the most amusing acts, the gym owner coaxes clients into adrenaline-filled activity to help them make changes in their life. Her motto? “When life throws you lemons, YOU MAKE A PROTEIN SHAKE!”

Paula Deen talks about food and sex, mixing her metaphors in a funny, raunchy act, and in one of my favorites, Schmieder hops in a cab with an overbearing friend who instructs the cabbie to go to the corner of I Know and Everything.

Making fun of rationalism is an easy target where relationships are concerned and Schmieder takes full advantage of the open bulls-eye.

Schmieder’s father is a mathematician who has a formula for everything, including why his daughter should stay married. He calculates that she is 95% happy, and that perfect unions are reserved for the movies.

And then in the best scene, Schmieder finally weighs in as herself. She reveals her insecurities about leaving a man who loves her unconditionally and doubts her decision honestly. We believe her and support her.

But with characters more like caricatures, there was never any doubt we’d be rooting for anyone but Mandy in the end anyway.

The show is a Piccolo Fringe production playing at Theatre 99, 280 Meeting St.