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Quick Draw Poetry Cabaret
Reviewed by Lovell Estell III
Bootleg Theater
Through January 16
RECOMMENDED
An apt description of this show would be extreme poetry and wordsmith calisthenics. It’s also one heck of a lot of fun.
Nayeli Adorador-Knudsen, Bobby Gordon, Ary Katz, Linda Ravenswood and Brian Sonia-Wallace of the Melrose Poetry Bureau Ensemble are the creative minds behind this high-spirited demonstration of masterful word play, ticklish nonsense and bawdy humor, which never seems to run out of pleasant surprises.
On the stage are five tables, chairs and old-school typewriters. The show is framed as a competition of sorts, with the artists dueling it out to see whose lines are the biggest crowd-pleasers while the audience provides cues and material. These poets are good, and they come up with some amazing creations: some funny, some surprisingly emotional and thought provoking. There is also music and a bit of singing.
One segment has Knudsen as an MC presiding over a “sexsemble” (no surprises as to the cueing material here). Ary Katz, who is also quite a guitar player, takes charge in the final duel, where ten random words are laboriously melded into a coherent poem. Erin Bridges does the honors as writer’s muse and titillating burlesque dancer.
Bootleg Theater, 2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles; Fri.-Sat., 7:30 p.m.; through January 16. www.bootlegtheater.org. Running time: 1 hour and 15 minutes with no intermission.
