Event
Into the Absurd - A Reading and Conversation Series: The Artificial Jungle by Charles Ludlam
This campy comedy masquerading as a suspenseful film noir was originally produced by the Ridiculous Theatrical Company in 1989. Chester Nurdiger lives in the back of his pet shop with his mother and his bored wife. One day a drifter comes along and they hire him to work in the shop. Sparks are ignited between the bored wife Roxanne and the slick Zachary Slade. They plot to murder Chester and feed him to the piranhas.
"The audience at Mr. Ludlam's omnibus reply to Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice and Little Shop of Horrors, is likely to die laughing." -- The New York Times
"Barely 20 seconds into the play the audience is already chortling. Lust, murder, maternal devotion, it has everything." -- New York Daily News
"Wildly hilarious." -- New York Post
A triumph of sheer sustained burlesque, mined with some of the loudest detonating belly laughs ever heard in New York." -- Village Voice
Charles Ludlam (1943-1987) grew up in Queens, New York, just a few subway stops from Greenwich Village, and the heart of Gay America. At twenty-four, he founded the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, where he wrote, directed and performed in almost every production for the next two decades, often with Everett Quinton, his life partner and muse, by his side. Renowned for drag, high comedy, melodrama, satire, precise literary references, gender politics, sexual frolic, and a multitude of acting styles, the Ridiculous Theater guaranteed a kind of biting humor that could both sting and tickle. His many plays included Turds in Hell, Der Ring Gott Farblonjet, a riff on Wagner's Ring Cycle, Bluebeard, and The Mystery of Irma Vep, his most popular play, and a performer's tour-de-force. Ludlam continued working until almost the day he died of PCP pneumonia, just three months after his AIDS diagnosis. He was 44.
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LocationL'Etage Cabaret (View)
624 South 6th Street (above Beau Monde)
Philadelphia, PA 19147
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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