Catch This: Buffoon Theatre at ACT

There are two more chances to see the Umo Ensemble's production of El Dorado, today at 2:00pm and tonight at 8:00pm at ACT, as part of the Central Heating Lab. I would highly recommend you drop what you're doing in order to see it.

This remarkable piece, conceived by Vashon Island artist Janet McAlpin (who also performs in the piece as an adorable, green lizard-esque creature), is physical, minimalist theatre at its best. Accompanied by excellent live music performed by Marchette duBois, and clothed in creepy costumes by Patricia Toovey, the five actors on stage perform hilarious and seamlessly executed sequences of "Simon Says", coordinated dance, fight choreography and slapstick posturing, while telling a circular and abstract tale of conquistadors undertaking the futile and miserable search for El Dorado - a metaphor for unmatched power and wealth.

Each actor is pitch-perfect as a vessel for multiple roles in this performance within a performance. McAlpin calls them "the Buffoons" (inspired by the teaching of French dramatist Jacques LeCoq). The asexual creatures, costumed to look more like lizards or Dr. Seuss characters - i.e., blatantly without genitalia (except in one exaggerated case) - are at the same time totally over-sexed. It's like a bizarre combination of Beavis & Butthead and Teletubbies - except with more recognizable references to history, contemporary politics and the more challenging dimensions of the human condition.

I don't want to give too much away.

I'd just say don't miss this opportunity to laugh at - and learn from - the funniest and ugliest versions of ourselves.

Photo by Michelle Bates

ACT, 700 Union Street, Seattle, WA 98101