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Theater Review: Monkey shines

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Monkey: Prehensile Tales by Deke Weaver is not the traditional "well-made play" of Chekhov and Ibsen. Thank goodness for that.

Or thank Darwin, perhaps, since the current offering at Urbana's Station Theatre opened on the date of the naturalist's 200th birthday. Monkey shines in unpredictable ways.

Somewhat surprisingly, hope and imagination — even in a religious sense — are strong components of Monkey, while evolution is merely skirted as a topic. Playwright, performer, and director Deke Weaver is seen scribbling on two chalkboards even before the play begins. Thin, his balding head cropped to a quarter inch of hair, and wearing a monkey mask, Weaver writes the names of types of apes and monkeys as the audience enters and prepares for what would seem to be a lecture.

Occasionally, the name of a species gets erased from the board (facing extinction, perhaps), and a bell sounds. The cashiers and the woman doing calisthenics on the floor also wear identical half-face monkey masks.

Instead of a lecture, the audience receives a warm bath of ideas, of movement, of spellbinding storytelling that triggers images in the listener's head, images as vivid as the 50-foot woman knocking down power lines that you saw on television when you were ten and never forgot.

Monkey may have evolved from one-man shows, PowerPoint lectures, conceptual art, or a multimedia installation at the Whitney Museum Biennial, but it is a somewhat different animal. For one thing, Weaver acts and speaks like a true actor and his narrative sensibility is strong. He may wear a prehensile tail, but he also knows how to deliver a tale with punch.

He recounts the history of the brass monkey, a spurious definition for a device for holding cannon balls on ancient battleships. Snapping through a slide show with a device held in his paws, he shows us the traditional see-no-evil monkeys and a myriad of ape representations, from Cheetah to King Kong.

Once the chalkboards flip to become video screens, there is a looped video presentation of Wild Kingdom's Marlin Perkins tickling a chimp. Inevitably, the images turn to the concepts of greed — the monkey's hand that holds too much for his own good — and war, the activity that the naked ape, human beings, seem unable to avoid.

Dancer Jennifer Allen bisects the performance with a choreographed piece that transverses the simple set (designed by Andy Warfel), wearing a platinum mod wig, turning backward somersaults, and shaping the air with her hands in front of a sparkly scrim. Monkey is not the dazzling visual display one might get with an impenetrable Richard Foreman off-off-Broadway piece, but simpler and more humane. Later, a descending disco ball adds to the hypnotic atmosphere.

Weaver weaves a story, two stories connected actually, of a woman searching for truth, traveling to Borneo to find an orangutan in the wild — a woman who doesn't see the need for hope in her comfortable life, but who wants to do good and trapped in the chaos theory of the butterfly effect, realizes she has no control over suffering in the world.

In part two of the tale, Weaver transforms dramatically into a salesman from Brooklyn, talking to himself at the airport, complaining about the voices in his head before launching into an account of how his wife had levitated from her bed one morning. Thus begins a journey as holy and outrageous as the mythology of Hindu monkey gods or of 1950s Hollywood science fiction, redemption and sacrifice all rolled up like King Kong at the top of the Empire State Building. We are sent on our way with a dollop of Frank Sinatra singing "New York, New York."

At just 60 minutes, Monkey offers a compact, nuggety mindblower, never overly intellectual or pretentious. It's not artsy. It's the real thing.

——

At the Station Theatre, Feb 18–21, 8:00 p.m.


3 comments

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cara maurizi

#1

Monkey was thought provoking and moving.  as a huge participant and fan of theatre, i was inspired at the way old ideas were presented in new ways.  Monkey is worth seeing….again!

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Sandra

#2

Oh good. I’ve got something to look forward to for the weekend.
 

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pg springer

#3

<span id=“result_box” lang=“en”><span title=“Nie wszyscy wiedza, ze w naszej malutkiej <a >pensjonaty</a> i nic nie znaczacej wsi jest prawdziwy skarb, którym moze byc kiedys glosno w kraju i na swiecie.”>Translation: Not all know that our tiny and unimportant village is a real treasure, which can be loud once in the country and the world. </span><span title=“W calej Europie nie znajdziemy drugiego tak <a >hotele</a> bogatego miejsca jezeli chodzi piekno przyrody skupionej na niewielkim obszarze.”>In the whole of Europe will not find another so rich beauty of nature if it focused on a small area. </span><span title=“Otrzymywalismy od gliwiczan wiele zgloszen w tej sprawie.”>We received many submissions from gliwiczan on this. </span><span title=“Oswiadczenia i inne dokumenty zlozone <a >turystyka</a> do protokolu na rece przewodniczacego obrad.”>Statements and other documents, complexto the protocol to the Chairman of the meeting. </span><span title=“Posiadamy wykwalifikowana kadre dysponujaca stale doskonalonymi umiejetnosciami, wiedza techniczna oraz duzym doswiadczeniem.”>We have qualified staff constantly doskonalonymi possessing skills, technical knowledge and large experience. </span><span title=“Mimo przewagi wzrostu naszych zawodników podkoszowych, pozwolilismy graczom gospodarzy zebrac na naszej <a >agroturystyka</a> tablicy az pilki.”>Despite the advantages of our competitors podkoszowych growth, allowed players to collect the hosts on our table with soccer. </span><span title=“Spowodowalo to znaczna poprawe jakosci murawy, przelozylo sie to na bardziej komfortowa gre w pilke nozna.”>This resulted in a significant improvement of the quality of turf, translated into a more comfortable playing football. </span><span title=“Przejazd samochodów osobowych mozliwy <a >pozycjonowanie</a> jest przez centrum miasta.”>Possible Transfer of passenger cars is the center of the city. </span><span title=“To taki zielony pasek, <a >kredyt hipoteczny</a> który przyzna!”>It’s a green bar,  to admit!
 </span><span title=“je Google stronie internetowej.”>Google them to the website. </span><span title=“Sad nakazal przeprosic poslanke za niepochlebne artykuly na temat jej meza.”>The court ordered the MP to apologize for unflattering articles about her husband. </span><span title=“Km od Dukli w dolinie Jasiolki przy drodze z Dukli do i przez Wietrzno do Zrecina.”>Dukla km from the valley Jasiolka the road from Dukla to and through Wietrzno to Zrecina. </span><span title=“Moze ktos wyjasni mi, w jaki sposób mozna sie dostac do stacji upków.”>Maybe someone will explain to me how you can to get to the station upków. </span><span title=“W pierwszej kolejnosci sprawdz czy uklad mieszkania Ci odpowiada i czy oceniasz go jako funkcjonalny.”>First of all check whether the layout of flats for you and if you rate it as functional. </span><span title=“Prestizowy apartamentowiec Dune budowany w Mielnie, jest juz sprzedany w ponad proc.”>Dune prestigious apartment building built in Mielno, is already sold in more than percent. </span><span title=“Jestes w miescie Gryfice i tutaj przegladasz produkty w markecie Avans.”>You’re in town and here Gryfice explore products in a market Avans. </span><span title=“Dlatego tez kazdy turysta przemierzajacy Warmie i Mazury powinien odwiedzic te niewielka, a tak znaczaca pod wzgledem turystycznym, historycznym i regionalnym miejscowosc.”>That is why every hiker traversing the Warmia and Masuria should visit the small, and so significant in terms of tourist, historical and regional localities. </span><span title=“Trudno dzis mówic które dzialania wojsk rosyjskich kierunku Pozezdrze byly glównymi.”>It is difficult today to speak to the direction of operation of Russian troops were Pozezdrze motherboards. </span><span title=“Znacznym atutem strony jest mozliwosc szukania kwater dobranych do naszych potrzeb.”>Significant advantage is the possibility of finding accommodation matched to our needs. </span><span title=“Jak wynika z istniejacej dokumentacji, pospieszne filtry otwarte mialy pracowac w ukladzie równoleglym.”>As follows from an existing dossier, were to open hasty filters work in parallel. </span><span title=“Ale trudno te!”>But this is hard!
 </span><span title=“date wiazac poczatkiem miasta Wieruszów.”>done if the city beginning date Wieruszów. </span><span title=“Bylo to uwienczenie!”>This was the crowning!
 </span><span title=“dwuletn”>dwuletn
</span><span title=“ich staran prawo do organizacji tej imprezy.”>their effort to host this event. </span><span title=“W srodku kompletnie urzadzony z kominkiem i dwiema lazienkami.”>In the middle of a completely furnished with a fireplace and two bathrooms. </span><span title=“Droga oddana w ubieglym roku na wysokosci ulicy Okulickiego sie niedawno zapadla jezdzimy po dolach <a >hotele</a> dziurach i wszystkim to gleboko wisi.”>The road put in last year at the height of the street was made recently in August Okulicki ride the pits holes, and everyone is hanging deep. </span><span title=“Pozostal nam jednak w Lewinie piekny wiadukt zbudowany przez wloskich inzynierów.”>However, we stayed in a wonderful Lewin viaduct built by Italian engineers. </span><span title=“Jest pan cudownym ojcem i mezem ma pan piekna rodzine pozdrawiam i zycze powodzenia w rajdach.”>You’re a wonderful father and husband has a beautiful family greet you and wish you success in rallying.</span></span>

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