This Is the Week That Is
Capital-themed comedy dating back to the days of Aristophanes.
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Some things will never change. This comes across clearly in 1812 Productions' This Is the Week That Is: Political Humor for the Holidays. The show features capital-themed comedy dating back to the days of Aristophanes, but the funniest thing about the old bits is their timeless nature.
"A lot of what they were talking about ... we're still dealing with [today]," says director Jennifer Childs, who's also one of the six performers. Yes, names may change, but the political game is still dirty, deceitful and a prime target for satire.
The routines recreated here are culled from a host of witty observers, including Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Tom Lehrer, Mort Sahl and Dick Gregory. The source material is sharp-tongued, but the kicker is that some portions of the show will vary from week to week, perhaps even day to day. "We have refillable sections that are based on current events," says Childs, who explains that developing dialogue on the fly is challenging. "Things can change really fast. We started rehearsing on Election Day. We had written a great joke about Rumsfeld at 10:30, and by 12:30, it was irrelevant."
Dec. 1 to Jan. 7, $10-$32, The Adrienne Theatre, 2030 Sansom St., 215-592-9560, www.1812productions.org.
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