Sometimes in theater, the things you can’t quite grab onto are the very things that grab onto you – and won’t let go.
In Dan Dietz’s imaginative and ephemeral new “tempOdyssey,” there’s a lot to try to grab onto. There are two Big Bang explosions in the first minute, yet our setting is a black hole: a life-sucking Seattle office where they make bombs. These two competing forces – the infinite vs. the infinitesimal – are at odds throughout Curious Theatre’s strange and weirdly intoxicating staging.
Our narrator is Little Genny, who was born in Appalachia with the innate ability to crisply snap the necks of her daddy’s chickens. She’s a reluctant goddess of death who has disappeared into the anonymity of Seattle – “the anti-Atlanta” – to escape her proclivity for killing anything she grows close to.
What better way to make yourself invisible than to dissolve into the black-hole world of the temp worker, where no one bothers to learn your name? Genny defines a black hole as any place where nothing meets everything and locks – “like teenage lovers living in a bad pop song.”
It’s Genny’s first day, and she’s surrounded by file cabinets that stretch to the ceiling, making this absurd office look more like a morgue. Suddenly a file drawer springs open, and inside is a co-worker named Dead Body Boy, who’s actually more alive than anyone. In a later flashback, the sun gets stuck in the sky until Genny’s hillbilly mom (a great Rhonda Brown) climbs a tree and shakes it loose.
Yep, these are the kinds of things that confound you – and stay with you.
“TempOdyssey” is a mini-Big Bang in its own right, a tiny universe made up of competing, combustive forces. It’s a hilarious satire of workday mundanity as well as a scientific philosophy. Mostly it’s an identifiable character study of a sad girl marginalized by her gender and geography who harnesses the power to bring the world to an end. It’s “Copenhagen” meets “Carrie” meets “The Office,” and it’s a fun freakout.
Many lines of dialogue in the printed script are typed in capital letters. As Dietz explains, sometimes this signifies an attempt by that character to suddenly channel the spirit of a mythic being … “and sometimes this signifies the character is just talking loud.”
What does all this mean? Dietz and director Chip Walton have invested much intellect and effort into giving you a helpful push, but there is no single, conclusive interpretation.
Just go and take it all in – the musical nature of Dietz’s words coming at you in waves, Charlie Packard’s shape-shifting set, Brian Freeland’s hip indie-rock soundtrack (The Postal Service, Junior Senior), and the work of an impeccable ensemble. Just be prepared to put in some work yourself, because this is one play that won’t do it for you.
What will be plain enough to anyone is the remarkable work by Dee Covington (Genny) and the hilarious Jason Henning, who’s walked right in from a Tim Burton movie. His Dead Body Boy clings to his temp status like he clings to life. Talk about irony: We’re all temps – the only thing truly permanent being death. Yet no one here fights harder for life than the guy who’s dead.
To me, “tempOdyssey” is the story of a woman beaten down and ground into the carpet for so long that she’s willing to wreak destruction on innocents because sometimes that’s the only way to be heard. We heard that over and over after Columbine.
Or not. I’m still trying to grab hold of it all …
But I’m still thinking about it.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
| “tempOdyssey” | *** 1/2 RATING
DRAMA|Curious Theatre Company|Written by Dan Dietz|Directed by Chip Walton|Starring Dee Covington and Jason Henning|Acoma Center, 1080 Acoma St.|THROUGH DEC. 16|8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays|2 hours, 15 minutes|$28-$32 (2-for-1 Thursdays)| 303-623-0524 or curioustheatre.org
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“DEFILED” Theatre13, resident theater company at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, performs a Lee Kalcheim play subtitled “The Convenience of a Short Haired Dog.” In it, a technophobic librarian threatens to blow the place up if his beloved card catalog is carted away. 7 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Nov. 25 at 1750 13th St. $13-$15 (303-443-2122 or bmoca.org).
“POLISH JOKE” Denver Repertory Theatre is back from dormancy with David Ives’ quick-change comedy about a Polish-American who has been so long taught not to value his own roots, he re-invents himself as a variety of other ethnicities. 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Dec. 9 at the John Hand Theater, Lowry, 7653 E. First Place. $12-$15 (303-339-0056).
“CINDERELLA” This Littleton Town Hall Arts Center staging of the Rodgers and Hammerstein children’s classic is being presented as a full mainstage offering starring Melissa Benoist and Seth Caikow-
ski. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays and some Saturdays through Dec. 31 at 2450 W. Main St. $16-$33 (303-794-2787 or townhallarts center.com).
-John Moore
