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Culture Theatre

Jess Dobkin runs, dances and evokes mystery in The Magic Hour

THE MAGIC HOUR by Jess Dobkin (Theatre Centre, 1115 Queen West). Runs to January 21. $22-$30. See listing. Rating: NNN

Jess Dobkin is infinitely watchable. So it almost doesnt matter what shes doing.

This time shes dressed in nude-coloured leotard ensembles, investigating sexual assault and memory and commenting on various male obsessions, all the while questioning the meaning of performance art.

As an example of the latter, she greets the audience outside the performance space, saying, Welcome, thanks for coming (words which are repeating throughout the show as a near chant), and adds a savvy quickie monologue about whether her words are scripted or ad-libbed.

She then invites us into the theatre, where she personally seats us in a large circle, at which point were all hers. In a hilarious early sequence, she runs around outside the circle hollering questions like Am I a performance artist now?

But, yes, this is performance art, so you have to probe deeply to get the different themes. Dobkin is anything but heavy-handed.

The idea of memory is mined through the music, almost all 70s pop pretty cheesy stuff, but thats Dobkins idea of humour like the Captain and Tenilles Do That To Me One More Time and Diana Rosss Touch Me In The Morning.

The idea of child sexual assault is addressed through a series of jokes, all in terrible taste, that Dobkin tells while encased in a paper bag. And the way womens bodies are manipulated is conveyed through an ingenious cardboard cutout of a woman with holes that she uses to great effect.

At other times during this loosely structured piece, she seeks connection. At one point were all engaged in an exercise to connect with each other via strands of packing tape.

Some of it is beautiful and all of it expertly presented by Dobkin, whose body work is superb and who goes from deadpan to animated, sometimes in disturbing ways.

Some of it is frankly baffling, but as I said, that doesnt matter as long as its Dobkin onstage.

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