Day: October 13, 2008

Dazzling. Startling. Laugh-out-loud hilarious. Violet Krumbein‘s one-woman romp is called Human Painkiller, and for good reason, because I’m not sure how anyone can still feel pain after a half-hour with Krumbein, unless you’re hurting from laughing so much. In black tights, sparkly gold miniskirt, fanny pack and tap shoes, Krumbein grabs your attention from the start and never lets go in a multi-character farce of outrageous proportions. Some may compare Krumbein with Gilda Radner. I think of her show more as though Radner got to play in Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. There’s a song-and-dance number about hating pills, several love interests, happy fun glove, flashbacks, sound cues and a downright dangerously silly sex scene. At one point, Krumbein declares: "It kills me that such a beautiful woman has such horrible mental problems." You’re meant to think of this as a moment of self-deprecation. And yet I don’t find anything wrong with her at all. Director Megan Neuringer said she didn’t exactly try to rein Krumbein in, but rather has worked with her in terms of structure so the audience "knows this is all deliberate." It’s not haphazard at all. It’s very deliberately absurd and funny. In a note to friends on Facebook, Krumbein warned: "the show is offensive to Russians, Jews, Gays, Old People, Activists, Health Aides, Rich People, Epileptics, sufferers of Von Willebrand Disease, Healers, and Inventors." More importantly, it’s...