December 16-22, 2004

artpicks

Look! Sharp!

by Lori Hill

Theater

It's as if the gods of Philly experimental theater decided to smile upon us all.

Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental.

Pig Iron Theatre Company.

New Paradise Laboratories.

All collaborating for a one-night-only performance of Thaddeus Phillips' The Earth's Sharp Edge.

When it premiered at the 2002 Fringe Festival, the ambitious show—which tackles terrorism, cultural mistrust, language and air travel—was especially timely. Phillips thinks it still is—in different ways.

"It's becoming more about [freedom of speech]," says Phillips. "It's not so much that there's a terrorist [portrayed] onstage, than that we have a right to have a terrorist onstage."

The terrorist in question is Leila Khaled, who hijacked a plane from Rome to Athens in 1969, and that speech will be multilingual—you'll hear English, Arabic, French and Spanish during your stay. The show is a visual stunner as well. Watch the actors create airplane seating out of a few chairs and tiny lights, a desert out of sand-filled suitcases and a Moroccan hotel room with clips from Casablanca. It even begins with an interactive element: On entering the theater, audience members must pass through "customs" and speak to "agents." Sounds gimmicky, but it's disconcerting all the same.

This production is a precursor to Edge's appearance at the Revolutions International Theatre Festival in Albuquerque next month, and Phillips has brought together a stellar group of local theater artists for the project. There's Pig Iron's Emmanuelle Delpech-Ramey and James Sugg, NPL's Jeb Kreager and Matt Saunders, and returning actors Tatiana Mallarino (as Khaled) and Muni Kulasinghe—and, of course, Phillips himself playing, among other characters, a besieged traveler (a role he knows well: The play was inspired by his own troubles being detained on his way back from a trip to Morocco).

"What we're trying to do is work on things [collectively]," he says. "I'm not telling everyone what to do, we're fixing the show from individual perspectives."

Edge's original production took place in the abandoned St. John's Church in Northern Liberties, and its crumbling plaster fit the mood. This time, the show's at the equally creepy Parlour dance space (a former funeral home) on South Broad.

Bring all proper documentation.

The Earth's Sharp Edge (revised), Sat., Dec. 18, 7 p.m., $10 suggested donation, The Parlour, 1170 S. Broad St., 215-413-2036.