The Universe (101) 

Reviewed by Paul Birchall 
Cavort Theatre (Hollywood Fringe Festival)
Extended through July 7  

RECOMMENDED 

Sporting a red nose and a bowler hat, clown Norbut Yetso (Matthew Godfrey) plucks folks out of the audience to help him with his grand experiment — or magic trick, depending on your point of view.  His plan is to use the whackadoo invention he has built on the stage to transport a lemon into another dimension, with the audience’s help.  The trick works — but with a catch as, when the lemon returns from its journey through time and space, it brings back with it a gentleman magician (Ian Harvey Stone) from the 1860s.  The magician and the clown are appalled at the paradoxes caused by the colliding of their time lines, and plans are hatched to send the 19^th century gent back to where he came from, using a psychic, more lemons, and a seemingly magical deck of cards.  

Stone and Godfrey (who are credited as the piece’s creators, producers and directors) have crafted a delightful, quirky vignette that is full of daffy, Monty Python-like absurdity wrapped around a Douglas (“Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”) Adams-like comic riff on the themes of quantum physics and magic.  Indeed, their artful melding of magic and narrative is almost a trick itself.  Commentary on Schrodinger’s Cat meshes perfectly with old fashioned card tricks and magic knots on rope that vanish and reappear.  Although one or two of the tricks were a tad rough at dress rehearsal, the show’s mix of humor, madness, and magic is beguiling. 


Dorie Theater at the Complex, 6476 Hollywood Blvd; Extended through July 7. https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/5077. Running time: 60 minutes.