SPENT by Michele Smith, Dean Gilmour, Ravi Jain and Adam Paolozza, directed by Gilmour and Smith (Theatre Smith-Gilmour/Why Not Theatre/TheatreRUN). At Factory Studio (125 Bathurst). To October 25, Tuesday-Saturday 8 pm, matinee Sunday 2:30 pm. $20-$25, stu/snr $15. 416-504-9971. See listing. Rating: NNNN
If you’re worried about the economy swirling around in the toilet bowl, or if you just want laugh yourself silly, head out to the Factory Studio to see Spent.
A wonderful combination of incisive satire and sharp physical comedy, the show shows us the human and sometimes inhuman faces of the greedy people who built their fortunes at the expense of others.
At its centre are a pair of Bay Street traders (co-creators Ravi Jain and Adam Paolozza) who wake up one morning to find their investment world has exploded they’re forced to carry signs by the roadside offering their services to anyone who’ll hire them. But failure even here leads to a more desperate measure, played out on an office tower ledge.
Their slo-mo descent to the ground, one of the best parts of the show, is mixed with paradisial and hellish fantasies, including a gigantic Lucifer and smaller pitchfork-wielding devils. If you think all the concern with big bucks these days really is a load of shit, you’ll find that theory given scatological life here.
Performers Paolozza and Jain are impeccable, alternating and blending movement and dialogue so expertly that you’d think they’re joined not only at the hip but also at a telepathic brain level.
On a bare stage and making great use of the niches and radiators at the back of the space, smartly lit by André du Toit, the duo present caustic scenarios involving twitchy Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld (whose obfuscating testimony tries to make it OK that he received only $250 million instead of $500 million in payments from the bankrupt company) and victims of the Madoff scandal.
With the help of co-developers and directors Michele Smith and Dean Gilmour, the pair send up the media with as razor-sharp a touch. A BBC News segment takes us around the world complete with split screens, satellite transmission problems and blipped expletives, while a panel discussion among self-impressed experts has Jain and Paolozza leaping manically back and forth across the stage as the six participants.
The only glitch in the show is the transition to the final segment, in which the Bay Street characters go riding the rails, as if they were back in the Depression. The scene, a nod to the great silent film comedies, is done with the actors’ usual precision, but it changes the energy of the show and doesn’t feel like a satisfactory ending to what’s come before.[rssbreak]
