BILLY THE MIME
Neal Weaver - L.A. Weekly
Oct. 27, 2005
As in fifth-century Athens, where a theater seat was always reserved for Dionysus, Billy the Mime reserves a front-row seat for his avatar Marcel Marceau, though he tackles thornier issues than Marceau did, and takes a darker view. Though heís always funny, his routines are likely to produce gasps of shock, moans of sympathy, or giggles of discomfort, as well as guffaws. He performs capsule biographies of Van Gogh, JFK Jr., Karen Carpenter, Thomas Jefferson and Terri Schiavo, and he encompasses historical cataclysms (World War II, 9/11) in under five minutes. ìThe Priest and the Altar Boyî looks at child molestation in the church, ìSlave!î encapsulates the horrors of slavery, and ìThe Abortionî provides a gut-wrenching tale in which Billy plays mother, doctor and fetus. (Note: The program varies from performance to performance.)
The climactic scene of the performance I attended was ìThe Clown and Beautiful Woman,î in which Billy falls in love with a woman from the audience, and leads her through a dance that segues from waltz, to square dance, Irish jig, Swan Lake, jitterbug and cancan. Even this exuberant piece ends in mock tragedy.
Sacred Fools, 660 N. Heliotrope Dr.; Tues., 8 p.m.; thru Nov. 22. (310) 281-8337.