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Peer Reviews
Leap
Reviewed by Keith Waits
Entire contents copyright © 2008,
Keith Waits. All rights reserved.
A man walks onstage carrying a broom and begins
eating a stalk of celery, and the audience laughs.
Why is such a simple and mundane action at all
funny? Most who do comedy professionally agree
that it is foolish to deconstruct and analyze how
comedy works, so suffice it to say that it is how
the man eats that stalk of celery. The members
of Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble performing their
new production, Leap, all know how to eat celery
in ways that will make you laugh. They know how
to make you laugh doing a good many other things
as well.
Somewhere between the low physical comedy of the
circus clown throwing buckets of confetti and the
most cerebral verbal stand-up comedy, there exists
a territory of physical comedy that employs the
human body to express ideas both subtle and broad.
It is an old theatrical tradition but one not often
seen on any stage in our area, which makes the
work of this gifted troop a rare pleasure. This
was my first exposure to their work, and I came
away feeling a true sense of discovery, as if I
had unearthed a precious gem.
In this particular production, plot and characterization
as we know them from traditional forms are jettisoned,
while absurdity and irrationality are celebrated.
The four members of the ensemble are sublimely
silly as they move with great precision through
a tightly choreographed series of interactions
expressing a wide range of comedic images. To call
it slapstick would not be wrong, but it would limit
an understanding of what this quartet is capable
of. Everything about the production might at first
seem random and facile, but as the evening progresses
and the structure of the piece begins to, for a
time, repeat itself, it becomes evident how well
crafted it all is. The skill and energy of the
ensemble is impressive, but it is the cohesiveness
on display that is astonishing. They move through
the performance space less as four individual actors
and more in the manner of a finely-tuned engine.
Yet they each create indelible figures within that
structure with detailed and nuanced gesture.
This unification of purpose, which one might think
comes easily onstage, should not be taken for granted.
It apparently is derived, at least in part, from
a unique creative process in which each performer
is given an equal role in forming the show and
developing it through the rehearsal process. No
credit is given for writing or directing, since
no one individual is in "control" more
than the others. What might in some circumstances
breed chaos and anarchy, in the hands of these
spirited but disciplined performers, delivers potent
comedy of tremendous grace and agility. Brava to
Tony Dingman, Abigail Bailey Maupin, Gregory Maupin
and Kristie Rolape for their inspired work.
February 28-March 1, March 7-8 and March 15-16
All shows at 8:00pm
The Rudyard Kipling
422 Oak St.
Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble
www.LePetomane.org
636-1311
Posted Mar. 1, 2008
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