Serial to Stage: Chapter 1 – Flash Gordon/Commander Cody
by The Alley Theater
Ensemble
Reviewed by Keith Waits
Copyright
© 2013 Keith Waits. All rights reserved
If
one spends much time thinking about it, the idea that an audience under the age
of 50 finds relevance in material inspired by movie serials from more than
seventy years ago is the height of incongruity. But the 1970s began the modern
age of a particularly American form of self-referential popular culture that
has proved surprisingly durable, if increasingly facetious.
The
Alley Theater is inarguably the leading progenitor of this kind of enterprise,
with their dizzyingly condensed Star Wars trilogy and other pastiches of this
age’s cinematic phenomena, including riffs on The Matrix and Point Break.
With this Flash Gordon/Commander Cody
double feature, the first of 13 monthly chapters, they have mixed equal parts
kitsch and improv comedy, added appropriately cheesy makeshift costumes and
cardboard props, mixed it up with a tossed-off attitude that wards off any
pomposity and let it fly without apology.
Not
that the creative team doesn’t take its silliness seriously…exactly. But the
cabaret setting of the performance space (one of three available) establishes
the proper atmosphere. In the curtain speech, Alley Artistic Director Scott
Davis recommended that patrons avail themselves of the opportunity to drink a
cold beer during the performance because “…this s**t is just funnier if you
do.”
The
acting troupe engages in a clownish but studied amateurism that seems
predicated on the premise that if they are having fun, perhaps you will too.
Martin French and Kimby Peterson are especially adept at treading the fine line
that keeps such off-the-wall material grounded and entertaining: funny but not
stupid. And there are some choice video trailers showing exactly the sort of
thing that is being lampooned onstage, as well as some vintage concession stand
commercials (although, curiously, the concessions were closed when these were
shown, frustrating my own desire for a return trip encouraged by the animated
ads).
The
Alley mounts perfectly serious productions of relevant contemporary theatre as
well, but if the curtain falls anytime after eight o’ clock, you are likely to
find a very different animal in residence in their basement environs. Check it
out if you dare.
Serial to Stage: Chapter 1 – Flash Gordon/Commander Cody
January
11, 18, 25 @ 10:00pm
The
Alley Theater
1210
Franklin Street
Louisville,
KY 40206
502-713-6178
No comments:
Post a Comment