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Also this issue: Mirror, Mirror Astrid Bowlby: Leaves of Grass Step One Mostar/Sarajevo: Modernist Ruins Kelly Link Jennifer Weiner Cecilia Bartoli with Le Musiche Nove |
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September 26-October 2, 2002
artpicks
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Marc Weil was way ahead of his time. When he created The Madhouse Company of London in 1973, he presented comedic theater that interacted with the audience, years before the birth of today's popular interactive shows like Tony and Tina's Wedding. Tonight, Weil brings his company back in what he's calling a "Wild Stunt Show." It will be at the Society Hill Playhouse for an open-ended run.
Weil moved to Philadelphia 15 years ago and makes a living writing and acting. "I made 150 TV commercials, usually with crazy voices. I did gag writing and played the comedy club circuit." But the Madhouse Company remained his favorite creation.
"I was living in London in '73 and wanted to do a show to make you laugh without thinking about it, different from Second City and National Lampoon with their satirical and political humor. Universal, ageless, nothing topical, to pull the rug out from under people. I describe it as enhanced madness, or quiet lunacy. We played any venue from the street to a bar or on a motorcycle or in a concert hall."
Weil says that The Madhouse Company's Wild Stunt Show is a combination of the Marx Brothers, Monty Python, the circus, vaudeville and burlesque. He toured Europe with the show, and then it played off Broadway. Philadelphia producer Philip Roger Roy brought the original show to Grendel's Lair Cabaret in 1976, and now Roy and Weil have teamed up to recreate the show here in Philly prior to a North American tour.
The Madhouse Company of London’s Wild Stunt Show, opens Thu., Sept. 26, $30-$35, Society Hill Playhouse, 507 S. Eighth St., 215-923-0210.
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