EYES OPEN – MOUTH AGAPE – Written and directed by Buntport Theatre Company. Presented at Buntport Theatre (717 Lipan, Denver) through November 23. Tickets available at 720-946-1388 or buntport.com.
No one ever forgets their first time. That surprise that something could be so good. Such an unexpected delight. And you suddenly can’t wait for the next time. You wish that those talented kids at Buntport did shows more often. What? What did you think I was talking about? Those of us who are old-timers exist in anticipation of their next production – even if it’s revisiting an older script. Their older scripts are better than other writers’ brand-new scripts.
What do we like about Buntport? Well, for one thing, the genius of five (used to be six) kids who met in college and banded together to build one of Denver’s most successful theatres, doing only their own original scripts. The creativity of thought and deed. The brilliant take on pieces of literature adapted and molded into their own whacked-out version of something barely recognizable but insightful and clever. The illogical logic of explaining the familiar in new terms. The turn of a phrase that sheds a light. The bravery and willingness to do anything for the laugh. (I’ll never forget the look on the COYOTE’s face when caught in the museum). The confidence that their audiences will go along with their absurdities and understand their motifs. The feeling that you, the audience member, enjoys when you get it – the mounting “in” joke – the pleasure of recognizing their intelligence and yours because you do get it.
And no one does forget their first time. Looking back through their archives, I realize that my first show was called THE ODYSSEY; A WALKING TOUR in 2002. I’ve been watching Buntport for 22 years and have never been disappointed. In this first one, the audience donned earphones while a tour guide (“We’re walking – we’re walking”) moved them through visualizations of Jason’s mythical journey. It featured a giant eye projected against the wall as the cyclops and a pig pen full of transformed sailors. But then the next was the brilliant and oft-repeated TITUS ANDRONICUS with its chalkboard marking off the murders, the van that made eight-point turns to expose another side and another location for mayhem, and the blood by the buckets full. After a production of SOMETHING IS ROTTEN (an adaptation of HAMLET), my 12-year-old grandson explained to me that Ophelia had to be a goldfish because then she wouldn’t have drowned. And my joy in realizing he GOT it.
But what have they done lately? They took a relatively insignificant incident that happened twenty years ago in Chicago and made us laugh. A lone bus driver in a tour bus for the Dave Matthews Band decided to dump his honey wagon through the grid of a bridge not realizing that a sight-seeing open-air boat was going under the bridge at the same time. The people below got something like 800 pounds of inglorious (even if it did come from the band members) poo dropped on their heads as they sat EYES UP, MOUTH AGAPE. How do they tell this lurid tale? A documentary is being filmed about the incident as the bus, the bridge, and the boat are being interviewed about their role in the horrendous happening. A fifth character – the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) – chimes in with occasional observations from her excellent viewpoint. The characters soon start bickering about whose fault it was and why they are not to blame, thwarting the camerawoman’s efforts to get the story told logically.
The original group includes Sam (who provides the outstanding sound and light background for all the shows); Erin who doggedly continues to hope she can get her subjects to dampen their egos and answer her questions; Hannah, the righteously indignant boat full of caca; Erik, the bridge who insists he was an innocent bystander; and Brian, the bus which created the whole mess. A fifth collaborator for this adventure was Emily Harrison from Square Product Theatre in Boulder, a quite tall Sears Tower with a spire hat and a guitar.
Let me just close by saying you’ll not find a more creative and talented bunch of performers, search high and low as you may. Attending Buntport shows is a rite of passage for Denver theatregoers. And you’ll always remember your first. Although there was that other one . . . . . oh, and don’t forget the one about the . . . . . .
A WOW factor of 9!!