Get Out: Radiohole's Fluke @ On the Boards
Ostensibly an adaptation of Moby Dick ("loosely inspired by"?), Fluke is a freewheeling 80-minute anarchic mess of mechanical and multimedia wonder. The show is performed by four actors: three onstage, one on video. From the beginning, Fluke presents itself as a comic yet troubling exploration of madness and obsession. The sole female performer (Maggie Hoffman) enters the stage, with stunningly coiffured hair, clambers up a rope ladder, straps herself to the rigging so that she can dangle forward like the figurehead on a ship, and then delivers a weather report into a microphone. Within seconds, her voice quiets to barely audible whisper, swirling about the theatre, a seamless chain of meteorological observations and nautical coordinates delivered in hushed monotone. hissing from the microphone; then, in full voice, the declaration: "You're the only one who can't hear it."
It's a brilliantly comic sequence, repeated throughout a show laden with many brilliant moments and arresting images. Another performer (Steve Cuiffo), in character as a swank, lascivious yachtsman, enters on a tiny boat on motorized wheels (think one of those fiberglass, coin-operated rides they used to have outside supermarkets). The putative Ahab, played by Eric Dyer, rages about the stage through a heavy metal number early in the show. And Scott Halvorsen Gillette, with a heavy beard (and mostly with a Russian accent) rages at the audience and the actors, by turns exhorting them or trying to distract them, all through a dangling television screen. In the most famous and arresting image from the show, the three on-stage actors spend several minutes painting eyes on their own eyelids, subsequently performing a large section of the show with their eyes closed, managing somehow to express themselves with make-up they applied without the benefit of a mirror.
In short, it's a brilliant and crowd-pleasing performance (the crowd being provided free beer and cocktails upon entry, it's no surprise they all seemed to be in a good mood). Shows like this demonstrate how fun and exciting the experimental theatre can be (and often is); compared to the traditional theatre on Seattle stages, which is often pedantic and dry, it's approachable and fun. Fluke is seriously a must-see, and chances are limited: the run lasts only through Sunday.
"Fluke" @ On the Board // thru Sunday // tix $24
Photo of Maggie Hoffman in "Fluke" by Lisa Whiteman.
