A unique theatrical experience in Jersey City
It’s theater of the sublime. It’s theater of the absurd. It’s camp and cabaret. It’s Harry Potter meets Rocky Horror (no, really). And all of this takes place inside an 1876 brownstone in Jersey City, NJ.
A cast of characters played by a small, talented group of actors takes the audience on what is an inexplicable tour of scenery that is larger than the venue itself. How? Thru clever redirection, misdirection, lights, fog and layers of curtains.
All of it effectively hides the small size of the home. And it is a home, belonging to the shows creator and director Howard Richman. He also caters the birthday party that takes place shortly after the audience arrives.
The audience, by the way, is part of the show. Split into two groups of ten, one goes to the top floor of the home where they are verbally abused by one Denton Jersley. The second group is equally abused by Denton’s wife Petunia.
I was in Denton’s group which was funny since Petunia was played by my girlfriend Katherine Damigos. I think we both would have gotten a kick out of her picking on me in public, but fate was not on our side. Well, she did poke fun at my shirt, but for that she wasn’t really acting at all.
Once the show got going, both groups converged on the bottom floor. After some tasty rum-spiked refreshments and sweets, newly costumed characters take the audience on the real trip of the show.
The show ‘Hirsute Ceramist and the Phallus of Clay’ moves along in all of its campy absurdity with musical numbers and lowbrow humor. A young but excessively hairy boy comes from a family of potters.
Raised by his bitter aunt and uncle following the tragic death of his parents, Hirsute was forbidden to touch any clay at all. At age eleven, he is sent to a special school where the evil Nearly Headless Nicky needs the perfect clay phallus to be made complete. Only the boy has the power to create what Nicky needs.
Between the delightful lunacy of the premise, the clever musical parody and the ingenious manipulation of space in the small home, this was a remarkably fun night of theater. I’m told that Howard Richman has already begun conceptualizing his production for next year. Personally, I can’t wait.
See Also:
Parlour Productions
This sounds really cool. I’ll have to check out the next show.