THEATRE REVIEW Mr. Fluxus
Directed by Greg Allen
The Neo-Futurists
Neo-Futurarium
5153 N. Ashland
312-409-1954
$10-$15
"pay what you can" Thursday
One admission fee allows return visits for the rest of the run.
Let's start with the bottomline first. Mr. Fluxus is fun. You'll get to do a few things you have never done before and a few things that you have, but in a different context. Everyone is very nice and happy to see you there. Fluxus hinges on participation, so you will participate. But you'll never be asked to do anything too out there and the one or two riskier things are voluntary. Riskier in the sense of comfort zone, not physical danger.
By starting with the bottomline, you might be asking, what's the "however." Well, it's sort of like how LA is often described. There's no "there" there. Mr. Fluxus starts as soon as you walk in the door. Or up to it. And then with your group (small groups enter every fifteen minutes), you walk through the Fluxus exhibits and demonstrations. I don't want to give too much away because so much of the fun is in the discovery. I will tell you that I drove a car around the block, protested the show I was about to see, wrote a poem about a Q-Tip, ate sour candy and received a really bad haircut. And that was my individual experience, probably very different from anyone else's.
Fluxus, like Dada, has the challenge of finding its place in today's world. At the time of their conception, they were both smacks upside the audience's head. In this day and age, what was once a smack is now a tickle. But there is a childlike, positive, do-it-yourself quality to Fluxus that makes it worth the visit.
Although the show lacks any narrative build and feels more like a trip through a roadside art museum, Greg Allen is a master of getting and keeping your attention through misdirection. There are many quotes and short speeches about Fluxus. You may not even realize you're receiving a three-minute lecture on Fluxus as you pose for a "time exposure" picture. And littered throughout the exhibition are boxes with the note "This box will be destroyed at 8:37pm."
THE BS NEWS QUIZ OF THE DAY
Saturday, I asked...
"A woman in Meridian, Idaho is facing charges of arson for setting fire to her ex-husband's what?"
40% said "Bed"
- Oh, that's so 1980's!
In spite of their flammable nature, no one went for "Penis" or "New Girlfriend"
60% got it right with "Mounted Bison Head"
According to The Associated Press, Ryann Jean Stafford, 26, a southwest Idaho woman, is accused of setting fire to a mounted bison head at her ex-husband's home. Investigators said Stafford and her former spouse got into an argument at his home. But after he left the house, police said Stafford began throwing objects and then used a lighter to ignite the mounted head. Okay, two lessons here. If you are having a fight with an ex in your home, don't leave the bitter one unattended. Two, if you are really bent on torching a mounted bison head, make it look like an accident. At least shove a pipe or cigarette in its mouth.
