The Austin-based Rude Mechs theater company has brought one of its typical productions, The Method Gun, to L.A. as part of the current Radar L.A. international festival. The Method Gun is performed by five actors, each of whom performs multiple roles during the show, which is a mixture of drama, satire, physical movement, circus bits (somebody prancing around in a tiger costume), nudity and violence.
It comes off as very loosey-goosey, improvisational and off-the-wall, but thanks to the company's skill and intrinsic high spirits, the show manages to hang together just -- and hold your interest.
The piece is set in 1973 and deals with a theater troupe which was once headed by a fictional leader named Stella Burden (shades of Stella Adler). As Stella has done a flit, disappearing into the wilds of South America, the troupe must somehow operate without her. Once ruled by a dictator, now obliged to cope with democracy, the actors go a bit mad as they try and mount a production of Streetcar -- without (for some undisclosed reason) the key characters of Stanley, Stella, Mitch or Blanche.
Mayhem and chaos follow, with mostly amusing results: the actors bicker and complain, kiss and make up as they rehearse (sometimes bare-ass naked).
The gun of the title is produced and then fired, with deadly results, but hey, it's theater, and the show must go on, right? The truncated Streetcar goes up, with the cast firing Williams' lines at each other as they hop and skip around in synchronized fashion, light sticks swirling overhead. It's all very showy, whimsical and self-indulgent, but in an enjoyable way.
