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Tuesday, March 1, 2005
‘Flop’ at 7 Stages
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW: “Flop.” Through March 6.
Philadelphia’s Pig Iron Theatre Company is one of those dance-theater-clown squads that almost defies categorization. The work has been described as “cabaret-ballet” and “avant-garde shadow puppet dessert-theatre.”
After seeing “Flop,” which takes us from a tea party to an alien encounter, we’ll add the label “poor man’s Cirque.”
At 7 Stages this weekend and next week, “Flop” is a zany close encounter of the silliest kind. Like the superb buffooning that’s become a signature of Cirque du Soleil, the show deploys few words and beaucoup slapstick to take us on a voyage of low-tech comic euphoria. When three nincompoops discover they can control the order of the cosmos by moving the hands of a clock, time quickly comes out of joint. Not to mention noses.
You don’t have to be Einstein to understand the ridiculous physical principles governing the world of Snow (Nichole Canuso), Fleur (Emmanuelle Delpech-Ramey) and Millie (Lee Etzold). Once they learn how to fast-forward, reverse and freeze-frame the action, things go from hot to cold with the flip of a switch.
Snow is the stock diva, Fleur the irascible troublemaker and Millie the Girl Scout-perfect straight man. Punctuating conventional clowning with wildly original flourishes, they create a frenetic entertainment that’s suitable for all ages.
How delightful that such old tricks can feel so new.
THE VERDICT: Clown heaven.
THE 411: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 5 p.m. Sundays. Also, 10 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday. 5:30 p.m. Wednesday; 2 p.m. March 5. Through March 6. $20-$32. Pig Iron Theatre Company, 7 Stages, 1105 Euclid Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-523-7647, www.7stages.org.
