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Also this issue: Star Crossed Phantoms, No Opera Urban Tap MacHomer The Fever A View From The Bridge Magic Flute |
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February 27-March 5, 2003
theater
After the Global March and the virtual petitions, after the filibusters and the whistleblowing and the phone campaigns, here comes the Heckler. Heartbreaking and hilarious, noble and ludicrous, he is a two-hour one-man revelation about our lofty goals, our self-delusions and our goofy miscalculations. He is just what we need: a crackpot who still believes that it's possible to start "an epidemic, maybe even a pandemic, of optimism." Bill Corbett has written a remarkable script that threatens to grow more timely by the minute.
Benjamin Lloyd, an actor of considerable range and subtlety, holds the stage and our rapt attention as he stands before us, eyes magnified by big glasses and a comb in the pocket of his plaid shirt. He will discover and show us his passion for semantics, his self-defeating ego, the shocking human impulse to violence and the need for self-aggrandizement in the least expected personalities. This little, lovable man who lives a little, well-intentioned life discovers the allure of celebrity, of the spotlight, of stardom. He's a hopeless weirdo who cannot cope with small groups, and in one-on-one exchanges is, by his own admission, "a virtual mutant," but who craves a crowd.
The device structuring the show's immense monologue is a diary, and we follow the Heckler's triumphs and defeats, his longings and his disappointments through a season of public confrontations with the Commissioner of Transportation, the CEO of Healthy Foods, the head of Pro-Family and the ultimate climactic confrontation at the New York convention of power brokers of the World Trade Organization. We meet, through different voices and postures, Enrique, the continental café-sitting slob; Benjamin, his protégé who seems to be too polite to be a rabble-rousing anarchist; and Bud, the documentary filmmaker. We hear about Gwyn, a sweetie who gives terrible haircuts and who is as gullible as the rest of the public, and we see how impossible normal life is for this eccentric. He is both admirable and pitiable, both inept and fine.
The production, shrewdly directed by Paul Meshejian, finds many tiny ways to entertain us, starting with the Sinatra lyric, "Start spreading the news." Heckler is the latest of 1812 Productions' once-a-season commitment to showcasing local talent in a solo show, a tough but rewarding medium.
Heckler
Through March 16, 1812 Productions at The Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 215-592-9560
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