Stage Fog: Theater for People Who Hate Theater
We met a guy at Thee Parkside after the ill-fated SFist/Wired softball game who asked us, "What's playing now that I should go see?" Now, when we meet people at bars and parties who ask about theater, we know they aren't interested in Les Miz (sorry). To be fair, this guy never said he hated theater. However, we devised "Theater for People Who Hate Theater," an occasional series for those who want some live performance, but don't give a damn about the Tonys.
Blood Bucket Ballyhoo at The Hypnodrome
Eye-gouging, throat-slashing, fetishism and lots of stage blood-they're not just for Halloween anymore. Freak out year-round at the Hypnodrome, home of Thrillpeddlers, which has been resurrecting and performing the macabre type of theater known as Grand Guignol for more than 10 years in SF. Instruments of torture, not to mention sexual shenanigans, are de rigueur in Thrillpeddlers' shows, but for Ballyhoo they top the already over-the-top with a replica of the very first guillotine, built in 1792. What's better, this month they instituted special midnight shows. The evening features a set of vignettes from sex farces to the just plain outrageous. "Lips of the Damned" follows illicit lovers in a museum of torture devices (including said guillotine). "A Slight Tingling" promises a thoroughly blood-soaked ending. "The Drug" is set in the opium dens of Saigon and features prosthetics designed by the guy who did Jeff Goldblum's makeup in The Fly. And, finally, America's foremost expert on Grand Guignol, Mel Gordon, brings us "Abu Ghraib." Thrillpeddlers isn't for the easily offended, obviously. Their motto: Sissies Stay Home. If this sort of thing turns you on, you may want to reserve one of the Hypnodrome's Shock Boxes, where you'll get some extra special thrill treatment from the show's crew. Bring someone sexy: Shock boxes at the original Grand Guignol were perfect settings for trysts.
Lovesick: The Cat Allergy Musical at the Dark Room
In the same venue that gave us live versions of The Princess Bride and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comes a twisted new show by Pamela Holm. We'd call it an anti-musical, though it embraces the genre's hallmarks like thin plots, weak characters and predictable endings. But who cares? It's about time someone wrote a cat allergy musical, an antidote to, well, Cats. Serenity's (Margery Bailey) problem isn't that she's allergic to her cat Lucky. Her problem is that Lucky chases away potential boyfriends with those effective weapons: claws, pee and puke. And, of course, allergen-coated fur. Obviously, one of the reasons to see Lovesick is Steffanos X as the infuriating Lucky, with his altered fur suit, leather studded collar, black goatee and sideburns. The other is Jim Fourniadis's creative songs, with lyrics like "Nyquil hits the spot when I'm feeling sad" and "Don't expect to fondle her by fondling the cat." Yes, you'll also hear one-liners like "I'm tired of being pussywhipped!" Well, you'd think that Serenity would take Lucky down to the SFSPCA, but actually she takes more drastic measures, ones that could land her an appearance on Animal Cops San Francisco. Lovesick plays weekends through July 30.
SFist Karen, contributing
Photo Credit: Eric O'Brien and Delfina Hasiwar in "Lips of the Damned" from Thrillpeddlers' Blood Bucket Ballyhoo. Photo by David Allen.