Faint of heart beware, the Wild Stunt Show is not for everyone. Before the show even began, I felt the amorous bite of the libidinous Wild Beast of Borneo on my toes. Shortly after, he abducted a female audience member over his shoulder and absconded with her backstage. Sensation seekers can expect an utterly bizarre, nonsensical evening, all thanks to the creative insanity of the play's author, Marc Weil.
"I often write backwards... We do things without any logic," says Weil, explaining his creative method. Hailing from New York, Weil's passion for theater and comedy has inspired a broad repertoire of original humor writing. "Everything I've done has been almost entirely wacky, kooky, zany comedy, even though I look quite normal now."
Weil's offbeat humor infuses the tone of the Wild Stunt Show, a disjointed production of stunts and antics performed by a five-man company. The Madhouse Company is part Monty Python, part Marx Brothers and part total chaos, combined to provide the "sensation seekers" in the audience with an hour and a half of thrills. Describing rehearsals for his freak show, which is currently running at the Society Hill Playhouse, Weil comments, "They usually involve quite a bit of mayonnaise, a couple of sheep and some rope."
How does one conceive of such a show? "An enormous amount of narcotics," smirks Weil, and indeed, some of the humor did seem drug-induced. Consider, for instance, the scene during which character Hamlet McWallbanger makes love to a tape recorder. Weil's explanation? "My view about sex is... show the silly side of it. And of course the wonderful thing about making love to a tape recorder is you can do it over and over and over and over, and you don't have to take it out to dinner first." He turns to my tape recorder: "Although, this one does look a little finnicky... What are you doing later? You have a nice speaker."
"This is my favorite show because it's ageless," Weil professed. "It never gets boring because the writing never stops... The audience actually directs the show. That's why we had to re-do the program -- because we were giving 800 people credit."
Weil's goal was to create a show that could work anywhere for anyone. "We didn't want to be satirical," he claims. "There are really no messages. It's really about making everyone feel like kids at Christmas. And we also wanted to break all the rules of conventional theater."
Unconventional might be the perfect word. Before intermission, the actors instructed the audience members to grab a buddy and proceed "double-time" out of the theater and down a few blocks to an empty park they call a bomb-site. There, McWallbanger's head is set on fire and a bomb explodes on his stomach, attracting a crowd of city-dwellers, as well as several Philadelphia policemen. Weil is unfazed by the commotion: "We do attract the attention of the police, the fire department, certain anti-terror organizations. We actually have a permit from the city, and that permit says we can leave the city any time we wish. They're still trying to talk us into that."
Occasionally, someone will take offense. "I was slapped twice by a penguin, Weil clarified. "And therefore we are doing no more shows involving seafood. He took offense to a line involving a fish. You would think a penguin would get this."
The Madhouse Company will tour for the next six months. "Philadelphia will be our homebase. You can't get a steak sandwich anywhere else," Weil explained. Here in Philly, Weil is currently building the Smallest Theater in the World. It will be fully-functioning, with a stage, auditorium and light and sound systems. Mounted on the side of a motorcycle, it will seat two people and "we will do only epics." What's more, it will be a home delivery theater, like Chinese food. That's nice and all, but I think I'd prefer the absurd Mr. Weil and his antics to stay far away from where I live.
MADHOUSE COMPANY OF LONDON’S WILD STUNT SHOW
Society Hill Playhouse 507 South 8th Street Through Nov. 3 Thursday through Sunday Times vary, $30- $35 (215) 923-0210SPECIAL COLLEGE PROMOTION THIS WEEKEND: THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY BUY ONE STUDENT TICKET FOR $20 BRING A PACKAGE OF OSCAR MEYER WIENERS AND GET A SECOND ONE FREE (NO SUBSTITUTIONS)
