PLANC PRODUCTIONS - MR. BRUCE, DO YOU SWEAR?

Unicorn Theatre fashions a bold, well-acted take on Lenny Bruce

By Barbara Rose Shuler

April 15, 2004

Unicorn Theatre and Planc Productions present a keen-edged bill of fair in Rob Foster's "Mr. Bruce, Do You Swear?"

Both the controversial comedian and playwright will swing in tandem over the next few weeks at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts. The one-act evokes the despair of misfits in American culture. The play will leave you with a slight discomfort that may be your social conscience dusting itself off.

Nearly four decades have passed since the sad and untimely death of free speech gadfly and martyr Lenny Bruce. An entire generation of comedians, born after he died of a drug overdose in 1966, enjoys tremendous creative and expressive freedom partly because of Bruce.Time has indeed swallowed up the notoriety of this man who sandblasted moral, cultural and judicial hypocrisy in the name of freedom.

"Lenny Bruce? He was a jazz band conductor, right?" said a friend to me this morning. So, Foster is right. It's time to examine Bruce again. The world premiere of "Mr. Bruce, Do You Swear?" features actor Jody Gilmore as the edge-pounding rebel entertainer.

Foster writes a memory play happening inside the mind of Nat Hentoff, an interviewer who shoos the death off his subject and coaxes him through a stand-up life review. It's a bold setup and it works quite well.

Foster appears as Hentoff and co-directs the play with Cynthia Womack. Crockett and Unicorn stalwart Robert Colter contribute good mood-setting scenic design and lighting.

Enter Bruce, displaying anachronistic savvy about current culture and ready for banter and self-revelation with Hentoff. He plays to his Cherry Hall audience.

Those of you who have watched Gilmore's theatrical progress of over the years have observed that this actor is constantly developing his craft and often successfully tackles roles for which he doesn't seem suited. But, Lenny Bruce? Sheesh! That seemed a real stretch for Gilmore.

Not so. The actor has applied the focus, skill and hard work needed to morph himself into a worthy likeness of the tormented comedian.

Physically, vocally and in mannerisms, Gilmore gives us enough of the Bruce personality, style and temperament that we accept him in classic moments from Bruce's nightclub routines, in comic riffs on his arrests and legal tribulations, and in his contentious views on sex, religion, drugs, obscenity and the American justice system.

Foster has nimbly condensed Bruce's complex life into one hour while Gilmore fleshes it out on the stage with humor, guts, anguish and intensity. Hentoff serves as a grounding force for Bruce. Foster is fine as Hentoff, leading the witness, as it were, in a self-defense before the audience jury who can choose to judge, or not, this legendary figure of the 20th century.

BONUS REVIEW

Lenny and Nat: an intense duo

By K. K. Robinson
Theatre Reviewer, Carmel Pine Cone

April 16, 2004

Lenny Bruce was arrested, tried and convicted several times for using words onstage in his nightclub act that James Lipton encourages celebrities to use every Sunday night on the TV show "Inside the Actors' Studio" when he asks them, "What is your favorite curse word?"

That is only one indication of the changes the last forty years have brought to the entertainment industry.

In Rob Foster's "Mr. Bruce, Do You Swear?" actor Jody Gilmore takes us 'up close and personal' in the hounding-to-death of a man who refused to play by the rules. His uncanny embodiment of the consistently beleaguered Bruce in the intimate surroundings of Carmel's Cherry Center drops the audience into the heart of the man and the performer.

Bruce is seen as a controversial comedian who constantly pushed the envelope on stage. In fact, he was a very smart man whose cleverness and wordplay fouled many attempts to catch him breaking obscenity laws. The "bits" ring true because they are based on the very words he used in his act.

Staged as an interview with Nat Hentoff (Rob Foster), a famous 60s jazz columnist--who currently writes the feature "Liberty Beat" for the Village Voice, by the way--it is a tribute to Foster that his play seems neither dated nor preachy. The script captures the essence of Bruce's act; full of social commentary and more like a newspaper column done "live" than a stand-up comedy routine. Scenes jump around in time and the episodic nature can be somewhat confusing as we follow Bruce through the series of "busts" in San Francisco, Chicago and Milwaukee.

Bruce was not a man who played nice with his critics. His insistence on rubbing an audience's nose in the realities of his personal and professional turmoils ended his career as surely as drugs ended his life. But as Foster reminds us, he was the guy who "turned the light on" and was busted for using certain words onstage, for the same reason that some books have been banned for putting certain words on paper.

"Words are scary because behind each word is an idea. And ideas are scary because ideas can lead to action."

Produced by Unicorn Theatre and Planc Productions, the play is suited to a small theater like the Cherry Center. The evening is replete with excellent acting. The lighting and setwork adequately supports the play and the actors. The thoughtful direction of Rob Foster and Cynthia Womack provides the theatergoer with a solid presentation of intense intellectual stimulation. Bravo.