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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > Comedy category
Comedy
July 13, 2010
Review: 'Who is T. Henry Baudecliffe?'
The idea behind “Who is T. Henry Baudecliffe?,” a new improv show at the Hideout Theater, is original, if not instantly appealing. The story is this: In late 2009, Thomas Henry Baudecliffe, a resident of so-called St. Mark’s Community Home in North Austin, passed away, leaving a trove of uniquely strange, whimsical and paranoid marker drawings.
The discovery of a new outsider artist has sparked the imagination of the improvisers who have come together to act out the scenarios that might have led to Baudecliffe’s bizarre drawings. The sketches address a number of themes, either invented or “biographical”: Nazis and robots (occasionally Nazi robots), the dangers of big cities, illness, the idealizing of rural life and predatory eagles.
Things start promisingly, with a Gothic band of buskers playing a dirge on ukulele and percussion. The child-like lyrics (“Why do cars go ‘beep beep beep’?”) are a highlight. From then, we’re led to a series of short documentary interviews of Austinites who’ve been inspired by Baudecliffe’s art.
The story begins in earnest with Curtis Luciani in the role of History Channel-styled narrator-cum-cultural anthropologist, who has the evening’s most challenging job: to guide the audience through a Baudecliffe story, and, more importantly, to set the scene and shape of the entire show.
Going in, it’s nearly impossible to know what to expect. The drawings and some documentary videos can be previewed online —www.whoisthenrybaudecliffe.com— but they offer no clues about how an improv show might form around them. So, to begin each night the narrator has a member of the audience pick one of the Baudecliffe fragments, (ours was caterpillar and a cave full of angels), and the cast and narrator piece together a an improvised tale.
The story that resulted featured the Jones family and their son, Tommy, as he is cast out of his cold rural home for coming into contact with an eskimo girl. He’s forced to flee to industrial Chicago with nothing but a bag of oil on his back, as he meets the evil John D. Rockefeller and discovers the city’s hidden Eskimo labor force. (It made enough sense at the time.)
Roy Janik, as Tommy, was the show’s principal joy, playing the straight man against the absurd scenarios forming around him. His Tommy Jones was a naive child along the lines of Beaver Cleaver, though his best moments come when he nearly pops out of character to question the logic of the story’s absurdities.
Matching Janik’s wit is co-director Kaci Beeler, who provided early laughs as an Eskimo with a peculiar speaking pattern; like a more mystical Yoda, but with long, hilarious delays.
It’s unfortunate that after a strong and funny opening, the plot’s progress lulled as the characters moved to the more dramatic city scene. This section bounced between unfulfilled half-ideas that never quite found a rhythm. In this, what became the main sequence, the improvisers occasionally strained to find the cohesion and communication needed to steer the plot where they wanted it.
It is tough to complain about a show that dares to start with such weirdness, because this is a show with a high degree of difficulty. But with a format that depends so much on the lone narrator, sometimes spontaneous results get cut off, or less fruitful ideas are allowed to play for too long.
The production values are quite high. The soundtrack was brilliantly in step with the action, helping to set the mood, and even — as in the final triumphant sequence — evoking even more emotion.
Much of the movement is outstanding. Whether they’re making up John D. Rockefeller’s sleigh (pulled by polar bears) or forming young Tommy’s vision of human-sized caterpillars, the cast synchronizes beautifully.
Ultimately, the conceit of Baudecliffe and his many fragmentary stories create confusion, instead of opening opportunities for improv. It was surely a fascinating starting point, but they could have chosen almost any person, fictional or otherwise, and landed on a more favorable path.
“Who is T. Henry Baudecliffe?” plays 8 p.m. Saturdays through Aug. 18 at the Hideout Theater through Aug. 28. www.hideouttheatre.com
Luke Quinton is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
