Parliament (review)

 Spoilers Ahoy! 

From the makers of The Rage Fairy (which I adored) comes another flight into the meaningful absurd, a hilarious and biting nightmare titled Parliament.  Written and directed by Max Zumstein, whose talent I envy.

The press release gives us the basics:  Since 670 BCE, an imperially-appointed body of shadowy and eccentric figures has secretly controlled the globe. In ever-changing locations throughout time and space, the 13 members of the One True Parliament meet to debate, discuss, and decide on the events which will shape the story of human history. Their penchant for prudence and zeal for oratory has led them to some of the most important worldly contributions known and unknown to man. But this meeting may change the face and fate of the One True Parliament for good... Parliament is an absurdist and fantastical ensemble-driven comedy of prudence, etiquette, order, and fiscal responsibility. Those attending the meeting will bear witness to high concept skullduggery and the folly of erudition.

Please believe me, this does it little justice.  Ballview Entertainment seems to downplay its amazing material, in my view.  I wish they'd stop and revel in their achievements.  For one thing, we the audience are very much a part of the show, as "junior" Senators present for this special, emergency meeting of the One True Parliament which secretly rules the world.  I had a lovely time as we waited, with some members of the cast greeting me, one entering into a brief conversation as it became clear we were both enjoying the pre-show music.  We talking about making planets.

But, who are the "senior" members of this Parliament?  They make a delightfully weird and motley group, in a variety of costumes, many of them quite odd and also deeply indicative of character.  The Founders Three, who greeted us as we entered, are The Impressario (Zumstein), The Maestro (Freda Yifan Jing--who does an amazing job of characterization with her cape) and The Lothario (Ty Aldridge).  The Junior Parliamentary Floor Members are Constance Fidget (Liz Mina, who frankly pulls off one of the most bizarrely impressive feats in theatre history involving a very long tongue twister and juggling), Nathaniel the Usual (Rachel Banks), Apex Zenith and Orgonon Langley (Tullia Ferraro and Jenna Hogan respectively--a strange pair of eerie, frightening power).  Much of the action of the play centers around The Interlocutors--Professor Tiberius Emeritus (Ian Michaels), Temperance Tempest (Megan Colburn), Esquire Esquire (Dan Masso), Dr. Abigail Season (Lauren Adlhoch), Senator Vicarious Meadow (Morgan Lorraine), and Alonzo Fist (Tristan Rewald) who interestingly possesses a gun that will only fire if the target is telling a lie.

Co-director David Kickens plays Leopold Thackery III, listed in the program simply as The Disruption.  As indeed he proves to be, initially as a possible solution to the crisis which spurred this emergency meeting of the One True Parliament.  He eventually emerges as instead an existential threat to the Parliament and every single member, along with quite possibly the human race.  Mind you, he himself is not to blame.  Rather, the Parliament itself has accidentally fashioned him into a weapon capable of shredding any human mind into a zombifying vector of horrific enlightenment.

Baroque, am I right?

More than baroque, this whole show began as startling then cranked up to mind-blowing.  Both hilarious and disturbing, it managed the trick of entertaining while at the time sending a chill down one's brain.  Imagine if you will a secular Good Omens liberally sprinkled with Monty Python and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but done by Americans.

As of this writing Parliament (at the Whitmore-Lindley Theatre on Magnolia in North Hollywood) has closed.  Unfortunately.  But I eagerly await news of their next efforts, and following this cast's further performances.

Alice! (review)

Spoilers ahoy!

Lewis Carrol, history shows, was an odd man. Not as weird as maybe you've heard, but eccentric to say the least. His children's books inspired movies, artwork, ballets, t.v. shows, novels, documentaries and not a few stage plays. Like Alice, one of the latest offerings by Zombie Joe's in North Hollywood.

This isn't really Carrol's tale. Most versions aren't. Rather, it tells of the original Alice's great great great great granddaughter and namesale (Lara Fisher) whose erotic dreams of visiting Wonderland and the Looking Glass focus upon the White Knight (Jason Britt--who plays multiple roles). But he hasn't been around lately. The White Rabbit (Michael Woodruff) shows up to tell her the Queen of Hearts has been having everyone's head cut off, including Alice's beloved White Knight.

With this news, Alice's quest to kill the Queen of Hearts begins. It will be neither straightforward nor easy nor without a certain amount of sexual shenaniggans.

Central to the story is the Cheshire Cat (Jonica Patella) who's the first character we meet. Frankly, I think many are the often-quite-good actors in LA who can learn from her total selling of such a bizarre character. The second the lights come up we can feel the energy flowing from her eyes and smile. Fortunately the rest of the cast follows suit, including Gloria Galvan (the Mock Turtle, along with other parts--a standard for this show) who remains fearless as ever on stage, Daniel Palma as Humpty Dumpty (who "sells' a truly bizarre song from a top his wall) and Ellen Bienenfield as the Dormouse. Other members of the cast include Cat Cela as the Mad Hatter and Starskee Suave as the Blue Caterpillar. But I honestly think maybe Jana Wimer (director of more than one Urban Death at ZJU) as the dual role of Alice's sister (if you know about the real Alice Liddell's sister this presses a few buttons) and the utterly mad Queen of Hearts--and she was clearly having a ball doing the latter!

But what I really want to make clear is how the show captures that surreal dreamy logic of the original, not simply by including so many bits of dialogue and action, but also by the entire cast committing to each moment as it happened--even when frankly nothing makes much sense. Which, let us face it, is most of the time. Why for example such a strong reaction to the guinea pigs? I've zero idea. Her Majesty just doesn't like them, I guess. Nor is it all nonsense so much as fractured logic, a distorted world the kind we see in dreams. Of course every one starts singing a passionate song about soup! I mean--of course! Just as it would seem the Cheshire Cat would naturally be the mastermind behind Alice becoming Wonderland's Katniss Everdeen.

Sorry to say, but Alice only plays Fridays at 8:30pm and Sundays at 7pm until December 20, 2015. A mere four more performances! Shows are at ZJU, 4850 Lankershim Blvd (just south of the NoHo Sign), North Hollywood CA 91601. Tickets are $15. Get your reservations here or by calling (818) 202-4120

Whore's Bath (Review)

Spoilers Ahoy!

One issue with non-linear, non-traditional (for lack of a better word) theatre is how to communicate their nature. Technically, one can use the "correct" terminology. Nearly always this causes debate, over precisely whether a given work is surreal or maybe absurd, expressionist versus impressionist, etc. Understandable, and not that helpful. So allow me to use my own term to describe Whore's Bath by Rob Riemer (who also created The Fainting Couch last year)

Theatre of Dreams.

It isn't that we're observing a dream, so much as seeing a play that takes place within a world that follows the same rules as dreams. Towards that end, the second the house door opens at Zombie Joe's in North Hollywood, we are part of the play. In fact, before then! Because first we hear drumming. Not recorded, but live on the other side of that door. A beat that echoes and pounds and hints at something before us. When filing in, we see a cluster of persons on stage--dressed in rags, holding each other and running hands along their mutual bodies. Comfort? Foreplay? Dance? Maybe some combination of all three and more. But for now, they remain faceless, turned in amongst themselves.

We are sucked into a new reality--and I for one found myself remembering how theatre began as religious ritual. Not a show with which to entertain, but a ritual with which we were to transform, learn and transcend. Kevin Van Cott plays those drums, and other instruments as the performance proceeds. He's listed as Master of the Sounds in the program. I won't tell you his one line, but it nicely breaks the fourth wall--or at least licks it.

Credit: Zombie Joe

Whore's Bath never quite comes out and says it, but the Old Man (Amir Khalighi) at the center of the piece pretty clearly comes across as King Saul of ancient Israel. He has been deposed, and is sick as well as mad. Which came first is far from clear, deliberately so. His tormentor (Willy Romano-Pugh) openly insists others call him King David. The play makes much of the idea that David and Saul's son Jonathan (Abel Horwitz) being lovers, making a strange sort of love triangle. The only other specific characters are Bathsheba (Cameron Munson) and the Sea-Witch of Endor (Denise Devin).

Story? Well, like a dream, the play has a story but making a huge amount of sense of it makes for a riddle as baffling as it proves compelling. Such seems the point to me. One tries to interpret a theatre of dreams much as one does dreams themselves. Here we find much about youth and age, the inherent unfairness of both. Plus a terrible symphony of how love and power interfere with one another.

And betrayal. By life and death, by time and politics, by family and friends and even by God.

Personally, I saw also something of a mystical journey, of the once great King Saul leaving behind--painfully--the baggage of mortal life. It seemed to me a play about how Death is not the enemy. It can be a friend. In the end, something welcome. Perhaps suffering exists for us as heat and water do for the iron to be forged into steel. Maybe. As Saul suffers pain and doubt, as he endures humiliation and madness with horrifying bouts of awareness, he clings to all the details of life. His memories. Pleasures of the moment and the past. Pride. Fear. His loves and what connection he can make with others, even when his delusions won't allow him to view many of the wretched humanity that surrounds him.

All of this could frankly wreck itself on pretentiousness. People who go to a lot of theatre sooner or later see as much. Many times. It requires a company--and by that I include playwright and director--to dive into the subject matter and swim its length rather than allow themselves to be swept away.

(Yes I know that is a pretentious metaphor. Forgive me.)

Such a company we see here. The ritual with which the performance starts, as the doors open, brings us into this world and the cast do not hold back. Yet they also show great skill. One thing I tend to harp on is many plays is technique. Few things bother me more than actors who haven't a clue about the craft of acting--the ones who shout instead of project, who do long speeches with lots of energy but little or no thought to what they say, who cannot master the different sytles of theater in which they are cast. Case in point--speaking forward towards the audience when the person to whom you're speaking is elsewhere. This can look ridiculous. Unless the actor really is speaking to that person, not simply pretending! This cast revealed some powerful acting chops and made Whore's Bath as fascinating, revolting and beautiful as the best of our sweetest nightmares. Impressive! Extremely so!

I do feel compelled to point out Kalighi and Romano-Pugh as shining in particular. Some plays simply rest of specific characters' shoulders--Hamlet and Cyrano de Bergerac come most obviously to mind. This one depends on Saul and David--that is, if they indeed are Saul and David. The program lists them as Old Man and Young Man. Both men exhibit a great deal of power on stage, as is needed if they are to portray KINGS! Horwitz seems almost eclipsed by them, not because he isn't doing his job but because he's doing it so well! His Jonathan, although heir to the throne, clearly cannot match the presence and impact of David. Hence he ends up serving instead of wearing a crown. Devin meanwhile exhibits a great stage presence (honestly I've never seen her fail to command a stage upon which she sets foot) and Munson captures very well the kind of pretty, sexual glamor such a creature must have had in one way or another.

Whore's Bath plays Saturdays at 8:30pm until August 10 (unless there is an extension, which I'd regard as good news for LA theatre-goers). You can make reservations at 818-202-4120 or at the door at Zombie Joe's Underground Theater 4850 Lankershim, North Hollywood (just south of the NoHo sign, across the street from KFC).