Steampunk Cocktails and a Comedy of Manners

(Steampunk Heart)

Despite the fact that I'm in a theatre program, the amount of time that I actually have to go see theatrical pieces is limited. Sometimes our professors will say to us, "Seen anything good lately?" and we all stare baffled and bewildered-- what, like, in our FREE TIME? Ha.

But last night I decided to get out of the apartment, to get away from the academic articles and the grading, and to see a play. Katie and Dan invited us to the Annex Theater in Capitol Hill to see Cocktails at the Centre of the Earth. The play was absolutely adorable. Except for one rather awkward, unnecessary, and excessive striptease in the second act, the whole thing was delightful. The play was set in a steampunk world, where Col. Moutarde harvests mummies to create fuel to run, oh, just about everything from steamcabs to drying panels to pneumatic tubes to blimps. But his business is threatened by the new clockwork robots created by Gepetta Odenkirk. Meanwhile, Helena and Lansing, married but completely broke, look for rich lovers amidst the crowds of elites who gather at drinking clubs on blimps, under the sea, and at the center of the earth. Meanwhile meanwhile, one radical Marxist tries to take down the entire elitist world in the name of the working man, who labors in cerithium mines. Great fun ensues, as seahorses serve martinis, characters burst into song, and the robot repeats back things he ought not to have heard. Sadly, last night was closing night of this original piece, otherwise I'd recommend this show to everyone 18 and up (for partial nudity and quite a few sexual innuendos).

But I think the point is, getting out of the house to see theater reminds me why I got into this in the first place. Actors who look like they are having fun on stage? Why, what a novel concept! A funny, irreverent script that doesn't take itself too seriously? How extraordinary! An audience who is really into the play, instead of passively watching? What fun! And it makes me remember that theater can be exciting, can be moving, and can be something worth studying and experiencing.

(Annex Theatre, Cocktails at the Centre of the Earth)