Experimenting with Experimental Theatre

My personal predilections regarding politics and culture are, more often than not, reflected officially in print by Seattle’s alternative weekly, The Stranger. Sure, there are occasions when their recommendations for a Wednesday night involve, say, a bondage party at an abandoned warehouse (which might not be all that bad) but I’m referring to things that I can tell my mom about: plays, shows, author readings, etc. In this last issue, Lindy West was raving about a two-man comedy act, down from Bellingham, known as The Cody Rivers Show. Adjectives such as intelligent, unique, and hilarious were abundant and, though I’m not particularly any of those things myself, I certainly enjoy seeing other people that are.

When opening act, a comedian named Sean Devlin, who was holding a Stella and talking about the sub-par quality of the majority of heroin-inspired music, asked the sold-out crowd if we had seen the headlining duo perform before, the majority of attendees cheered and applauded. “Oh,” I thought to myself, “I’m not as hip as I thought.” Surprising, huh?

Anyway, the actors came out, arms spread and tiptoeing around, making wisecracks about those who were brave (or late) enough to sit in the front row (“Green on the top, red on the bottom, eh? Well, Merry Christmas to you.”) Suddenly they transformed into quick-talking market employees who laced their advertising with confessions of adolescent misadventures (“Two tomatoes for 99 cents, take back an onion, throw in three bell peppers for a dime, the old man was a bastard so I dropped out and joined a dirty circus.”) The skits went on: they derided professors, acted in slow-mo, performed a song and dance number, impersonated a mother bird feeding its young, threw in a little slapstick, all with accuracy and energy, originality and insight.

I could go on but my “review” couldn’t do it justice. The show played for two nights only; Saturday night was sold out so I can only assume the same for Friday. They’re on the road now, in the bay area, I believe, so if you’re down there, I’d say spend the ten bucks and see a performance with some soul.