CIRCUS OF EUGLENA: AN ORGANIC REVIEW
Now what are they to do? Far too many come up with the same answer: they stage a Second City-style revue. Through improvisation, they create a few humorous skits. Then they find a bare stage somewhere, put a few chairs on it so it looks almost exactly like the stage at Second City, and perform the skits, each one ending in a blackout. It’s a formula that has grown stale at Second City, but it persists there because Second City is Second City–landmarks are not supposed to change.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Anyway, the Active Pets Theater Company consists of five people. Three are graduates of the Players Workshop of Second City, and one is currently studying at the Second City Training Center. (The fifth is a standup comedienne who just flew in from Minneapolis, and boy, are her jokes tired!) They take over the stage at the Roxy once a week to perform their first comedy revue, titled Circus of Euglena: An Organic Review. The show is just like a Second City revue except for one thing–it’s not even occasionally funny. In fact, it’s so unfunny that it comes close to being a wicked parody of Second City; but such a parody would require some wit, and there’s not much of that in Circus.
The fundamental problem with Circus is that improvisation is used to generate gags, not scenes. In true improv, actors portray characters stuck in a particular situation. The idea is to explore these characters–to discover their personalities so their reactions will seem honest and authentic. Since human nature is inherently humorous, such authentic portrayals are often funny, but only because they reflect something true about people.
So Circus of Euglena looks like a make-work project for unemployed improvisers. One of their skits makes fun of a mime so desperate for an audience that he accosts people on the street and practically begs them to watch him perform. They shouldn’t make fun of the poor mime, however–after this comedy revue, the Active Pets might soon find themselves in the same predicament.
