Ann Noble and Jeffrey Johnson (Photo by Carolina Rodriguez)
Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
The Echo Theater Company and Theatre Ghosts at Atwater Village theatre
Through July 31
RECOMMENDED
In 52 Pick Up, writer/director/performer Ann Noble shares the stage with Jeffrey Johnson to create a comic pas de deux enacted by two clowns.
The pair meet in an urban back alley. Penny (Noble), in blue-nose with flaming red hair and a crayon-blue tutu, is fast asleep on the ground when Arkady (Johnson) enters the trash strewn enclave where she lies. He’s a shy, gentle, red-nosed clown carrying a guitar. But while he doesn’t speak, we gather from his body language that he’s disconcerted to find her there. (Perhaps she’s usurped his space, though one can’t be sure.)
A bunch of playing cards is scattered about, and he gathers them up and absent-mindedly secures them in his pocket (after several tries). Then she wakes. The cards, it turns out, are not just any old trash. They’re a vital part of Penny’s identity, the instrument she uses, instead of speech, to communicate with others. So when she does finally wake, she’s pretty darn mad that he’s appropriated them.
The rest of this 55 minute, near wordless play (up to the very end, when a few words are uttered, it’s conducted only in mime) is a getting-to-know-each-other between the mercurial lady clown and her diffident new acquaintance. It turns out they have both been through the mill — not to mince words, the victims of abuse. The stories they tell are not pretty, but the wackiness and whimsy with which they share their deepest, most hidden secrets make for an entertaining and poignant show.
The Echo Theater Company and Theatre Ghosts, Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater; Tues. and Thurs., 8 pm; thru July 31. https://www.echotheatercompany.com/52-pickup Running time: approximately 55 minutes
