Funny Ha Ha

In psychoanalysis, the presence of a toilet in a dream is dully interpreted as an invitation to let go of emotional burdens and outmoded attitudes. Clearly, Freud never met Fou Fou Ha! This gender-twisting coterie of brightly colored dance-jesters takes outrageous delight in our hangups, wrings them out, and dives right in. Fou Fou Ha!’s new show Out of Order, written and choreographed by Fulbright scholar Maya Culbertson-Lane, takes place inside a toilet the fetching Tante Fou must clean (amidst much ribbon twirling and good-natured Cirque du Soleil mockery). Like a magic wardrobe in an ever-so-slightly vulgar universe, the tricky water closet sucks the various Fous into its vortex and leaves them in an enchanted land where restraining orders become Broadway medleys; really, really having to pee is transformed into an acrobatic feat, and literal shit is subject to applause by critics. The Fous, accompanied by ragtime pianist Dizzy Decimal, deliver slapstick, circus arts, and modern dance with Fosse-like precision and a Jim Henson sense of fun, but there is a message to the madness. After you wet yourself laughing, you may find yourself singing, “On the day that I die, I'll just give a smile, and fly into the blue."
March 27-April 5, 2009