Political humor and satire have been remarkably effective in skewering flatulent fools, deflating pompous egos, and helping people mock the folly and cruelty of the world in which we live. Jesters were popular in ancient Rome, the Aztec Empire of the 14th century, and many of England's royal courts (where they were often referred to as "licensed fools"). Starting in the 16th century, commedia dell'arte actors in Italy used stock characters to mock doddering old men and greedy authority figures in ways that were easily recognizable to the public.
Back in 1967, Americans desperately needed a few good laughs. In January, segregationist Lester Maddox was elected as the Governor of Georgia, The New York Times reported that the U.S. Army had experimented with germ warfare, and three American astronauts (Gus Grissom, Roger B. Chaffee, and Ed White) were killed when a fire broke out in the Apollo 1 spacecraft during a launch pad test. That summer, race riots broke out in Newark, Minneapolis, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Washington, D.C. In December, a volcano erupted in Antarctica, the RMS Queen Mary was retired from service, and 1967 came to an end with news of the Vietnam War having dominated headlines throughout the year.
In the midst of so much tragedy, theatregoers were able to keep laughing as subversive, absurdist, and transgressive plays received their world premieres.
- 1967 was the year that Charles Ludlam founded the Ridiculous Theatrical Company.
- In 1967, Ronald Tavel's outrageous Gorilla Queen blew people's minds.
- That same year, Carl Reiner's hilarious comedy, Something Different, opened during a newspaper strike which cut short the Broadway run of one of the funniest plays of the decade (in which the protagonist and his wife have two sons who always speak in unison and the cast includes a pair of identical twins -- one of whom is white while his brother is black).
"When Trevor and Craig, two business adversaries, suddenly realize they're identical twin brothers, they decide to switch places, reunite their divorced parents and become a family again. But there are a few problems: Dad is too busy fucking sewer boys, and Mom's vagina fell off her body and crawled away! Will Trevor and Craig be able to reunite the family they never knew they wanted? Also, it's a musical -- basically The Parent Trap if it happened to horrible, disgusting people."
In some ways, contemporary comedy has become increasingly twisted, cruel, and hilarious. Whether one considers political clowns like Sacha Baron Cohen (whose work includes Da Ali G Show, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, The Dictator, and Who Is America?) or author Christopher Moore, whose iconoclastic and perverse penchant for magical realism has produced such irreverent novels as Lamb (The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal), Fool, Island of the Sequined Love Nun, and The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, no cow remains sacred.
With Trump and his sycophants continuously playing fast and loose with the truth, social justice warriors as diverse as Samantha Bee, Trevor Noah, Betty Bowers, John Oliver, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Randy Rainbow, Katie Porter, and Hasan Minhaj have become cultural heroes.
While the usual end-of-year holiday entertainment includes such attractions as Hansel and Gretel, The Nutcracker, A Christmas Carol, and George Frideric Handel's Messiah, two mind-blowing, gender-bending stage comedies are keeping Bay area audiences laughing at a time when humor is desperately needed to cope with the harsh realities facing our lives.
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The first time I saw a play by Caryl Churchill was on Halloween in 1981 (just before the AIDS epidemic would change history). As I walked down Christopher Street en route to Lucille Lortel’s Theatre de Lys, I overheard a gay clone say "My God, it’s so depressing. Every time you bring someone home who looks like a real man, within 10 minutes his legs start to go up in the air."Following curtain calls, theatregoers exited the venue into the insanity of Christopher Sreet’s block-long drag party, where I encountered six Joan Crawfords (one throwing a baby doll down onto the pavement until its arms fell off), several gay men dressed as Carmen Miranda hopping atop cars stopped in traffic by a red light on Seventh Avenue, and a host of other garishly costumed creatures who burst way past the rigid confines of Alfred Kinsey’s linear approach to grading human sexuality.
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| Evan Winet (Clive) and Mario Mazzetti (Betty) in a scene from Act I of Cloud 9 (Photo by: Jay Yamada) |
The play, of course, was Cloud 9 (in a production that had been brilliantly directed by Tommy Tune) with a cast that included Jeffrey Jones, Nicolas Surovy, Zeljko Ivanek, and a male character caught in a homosexual act who apologized by claiming that he was merely "the helpless victim of a disease worse than diphtheria." San Francisco's Custom Made Theatre is currently staging Churchill's play in a production that has been brilliantly directed by Allie Moss using costumes by Candice Liao, sound design by Elton Bradman, and lighting by Emma Satchell on sets designed by Heather Keyon.
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| Alejandra Wahl (Edward) and Alan Coyne (Joshua) in a scene from Act I of Cloud 9 (Photo by: Jay Yamada) |
Because Cloud 9 expertly straddles the shifting sands of time, human sexuality, and gender roles, what makes this production so interesting is how Churchill has turned the old battle between the sexes upside down and inside out. Some 40 years since the play's February 1979 world premiere at the Dartington College of Arts in Devon, audience levels of awareness, acceptance, and expectations have changed dramatically. If anything, Churchill’s time-traveling gimmick holds up remarkably well.
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| Renee Rogoff (Ellen) and Mario Mazzetti (Betty) in a scene from Act I of Cloud 9 (Photo by: Jay Yamada) |
While Cloud 9’s narrative structure might be perplexing to theatregoers with extremely linear thinking, formerly taboo topics (bisexuality, nontraditional casting, pedophilia, male privilege, grandmothers who masturbate, gender-bending costumes, LGBT parenting, the negative side effects of colonialism, and rampant promiscuity) are now viewed from a more enlightened perspective.
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| Alejandra Wahl (Edward), Zaya Kolia (Harry), and Evan Winet (Clive) in a scene from Act I of Cloud 9 (Photo by: Jay Yamada) |
For those beginning to get in touch with parts of their sexuality they never dared contemplate, Churchill’s play provides a pathway toward further experimentation and fulfillment. And, for those interested in reincarnation, role playing, and attempting to balance the sexual-electric impulses of human sexuality, Cloud 9 has simply become more enjoyable than ever.
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| Renee Rogoff (Lin), Mario Mazzetti (Edward), and Alejandra Wahl (Vic) in a scene from Act II of Cloud 9 (Photo by: Jay Yamada) |
Act I takes place in 1880 in deepest Africa, where the natives are getting restless. The Brits lead comically stereotyped lives (resting on a foundation of white privilege) that are icily defined by strict gender roles although it quickly becomes apparent that their sexual repression, constipated emotions, and traditional role playing aren’t doing anyone much good. In Act II, the same family of characters appears in London 100 years later although, thanks to some magical realism, the characters themselves have only evolved through 25 years of social progress.
- The obedient little wife (Betty) has matured into a woman who, dissatisfied with her marriage, leaves her husband and tries to become closer to her gay son and bisexual daughter.
- The male actor who played Betty in drag in Act I now appears as Betty's adult son, Edward.
- The oversexed hero who would happily fuck anything from a young boy or pretty woman to a mango tree ends up as the frustrated straight man who can’t get a grip on his libido while his disappointed and dissatisfied wife begins to thrive in the arms of her new lesbian lover.
- The sissified, barely pubescent young boy in Act I becomes a shy, sensitive gay man who (after being dumped by his selfish boyfriend) moves in with his sister and her lesbian lover in a quest for domestic stability.
- The preening British patriarch in Act I is transformed into an utterly obnoxious toddler named Cathy.
- A native servant in Act I becomes a cold-hearted, calculating gay man addicted to casual sex in Act II.
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| Evan Winet (Cathy), Zaya Kolia (Martin), and Monica Cappuccini (Betty) in a scene from Act II of Cloud 9 (Photo by: Jay Yamada) |
In Cloud 9, actors don’t just switch roles during intermission. Some switch genders while their characters roam the stage with new sexual identities. While demonstrating that humans are mere pawns in service to antiquated gender roles, the audience learns that chaos (as Martha Stewart might say) is a good thing.
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| Renee Rogoff (Lin) and Alejandra Wahl (Vic) in a scene from Act II of Cloud 9 (Photo by: Jay Yamada) |
Custom Made's seven-actor ensemble does some exceptional work in this production, with Evan Winet (Clive, Cathy, Dead Soldier), Zaya Kolia (Harry, Martin) and Mario Mazzetti (Betty, Edward) getting top honors. They receive strong support from Alejandra Wahl (Edward, Vic), Renee Rogoff (Ellen, Mrs. Saunders, Lin), Alan Coyne (Joshua, Gerry), and Monica Cappuccini (Maud, Betty), who brings a special poignancy to the loneliness of old age.
Performances of Cloud 9 continue through December 15 at the Custom Made Theatre (click here for tickets).
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If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t get swept up in the traditional celebrations at this time of year because you’re (a) single, (b) sober, (c) nonreligious, (d) hate being forced to listen to Christmas music, (e) dread family gatherings, or (f) can no longer fake enthusiasm for the holidays, fear not. San Francisco's Left Coast Theatre Company is currently presenting The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told down at the EXIT Theatre. Known for his comedic skills as a screenwriter, novelist, and playwright, Paul Rudnick (who wrote the screenplays for Jeffrey, In & Out, and Addams Family Values) is one of the great gay iconoclasts. |
| Michael Conner (Steve) and Max Seijas (Adam) in a scene from The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told (Photo by: Ashley Tateo) |
Rudnick’s 1998 play – inspired by the religious right’s talking point that "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve" – dips the Holy Bible in glitter and gives it a super gay makeover with the kind of biting wit and ebullient joy that could completely ruin Christmas for America's three unwise men. Imagine Mike Huckabee’s blood freezing, Mike Pence gagging on forbidden fantasy of deep throating Donald Trump, and Mike Pompeo exploding like a rancid, pompous pinata. Fasten your seatbelt and shout "Happy Holidays!"
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| Jessica Lim (Jane), Antonia Blumberg (Mabel), Max Seijas (Adam), and Michael Conner (Steve) in a scene from The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told |
Despised by Christian fundamentalists, Rudnick’s script gives the Bible a much-needed sprucing up in which the nude and naive Adam (Max Seijas) and Steve (Michael Conner) meet the first lesbians to inhabit the Garden of Eden -- Jane (Jessica Lim) and Mabel (Antonia Blumberg) -- with narration provided by a stage manager (Cheryl Games) we can all assume to be God. Throw in a horny rhinoceros with a huge front bumper (not to be confused with Thornton Wilder's "E proboscis unum") who has an affair with Steve, a preening Pharaoh (Stefin Collins) who could make RuPaul shiver with delight, and you'll get an inkling of what might have gone wrong on Noah's Ark.
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| Max Seijas (Adam), Michael Conner (Steve), Stefin Collins (Pharaoh), Antonia Blumberg (Mabel) and Jane Lim (Jane) in a scene from The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told (Photo by: Ashley Tateo) |
Act II is set in Manhattan on Christmas Eve. Steve (who is not in a celebratory mood) is hiding the fact that he’s been diagnosed with HIV and may not have long to live. Jane is justifiably angry at being a bull dyke who is nine months pregnant and starting to experience labor pains. The guests include a go-go boy (Byron Guo) who is terrified of having to help deliver Jane's baby, and a paraplegic lesbian rabbi (Kim Saunders) who has a program on public access cable television. Grab some popcorn (or poppers, if you prefer) and it will soon be much easier to understand why some LGBT folks literally want to scream “Don we now our GAY apparel!” as Black Friday approaches.
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| Michael Conner (Steve) and Max Seijas (Adam) in a scene from The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told (Photo by: Ashley Tateo) |
With costumes by Hal DuBiel, lighting by Beth Cockrell, and sound design by Larry Tasse, Rudnick's romp has been gleefully directed by Neil Higgins on Christian Heppinstall's sets. Top honors go to Max Seijas (Adam) and Jessica Lim (Jane), who get sturdy support from Antonia Blumberg, Stefin Collins, Michael Conner, Byron Guo, Erica Andracchio, and Kim Saunders.
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| The cast of The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told (Photo by: Ashley Tateo) |
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