Mike Daisey's "Monopoly..." at the American Repertory Theater:Zero Arrow Theater

“Monopoly! - Tesla, Edison, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and the War for Tomorrow.”
Created and performed by Mike Daisey
Directed by Jean-Michele Gregory
May 1-May 5, 2007
Zero Arrow Theater, Cambridge, MA
617-547-8300
www.amrep.org

Two minutes into portly Mike Daisey’s monologue and he’s got it all going on. His pudgy round face is a theater all by itself. Eyebrows rise, fall, twitch. Eyes squint, roll, stare. Mouth and lips contort to give charge to the words coming from them. Voice thunders, wheedles, quietly slows to gently massage each syllable.                                                                                     Photo from amrep web site

Occasionally all of that plus whatever else of him is visible from behind the table he’s sitting at, his only prop other than a glass of water he seldom sips from, go into herky -jerky or balletic pantomime to buttress the words of the story. He’s a one-man band of a storyteller.

Tonight’s roller coaster is “Monopoly! Tesla, Edison, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and the War for Tomorrow.”   Whatever happens tonight may be different from yesterday’s or tomorrow’s monologue. Daisey has no fixed script. He glances at a one-page outline of each of the dozen or so vignettes in his show, takes a deep breath, and re-imagines the story.

And, if we believe Daisey’s intent in the second of three monologues presented by the American Repertory Theater, we in the audience bear some of the responsibility for how it turns out. Daisey’s Director’s Notes, printed prominently in the theater foyer, proclaim he “tells the tale fresh for each and every audience using whatever energy you bring with you to make new discoveries along the way.”

Ahhh, the audience as enablers. Right away I’m hoping that the other 149 people who’ve purchased tickets have read this and are prepared to lean into their oars for his ninety-minute monologue.

Thirty minutes into the show and I’m wondering what I would have to smoke to connect these stories in such brilliant ways. He’s made a quilt of stranger than fiction accounts of the Edison-Tesla AC/DC electricity saga; the history of Parker Brother’s most famous board game - Monopoly; growing up in rural Maine; experiences when he fled to Seattle (including being cast in an industrial video with Bill Gates and Daisey’s gonzo attempt to use a lightning bolt spewing Tesla Coil in a theater monologue); and the impact of Wal-Mart on small town America,

Using stories about his small town sister or big time inventors Edison and Tesla, Daisey gives us fascinating microcosmic lessons about history, economics, and capitalism on a very human scale.

Occasionally, Daisey gets mired too deeply in his self-admitted obsessions with capitalism or history and that’s where we can't help him out. If he senses the audience’s eyes glazing over from too much information, he pulls the pin on a hand grenade of humor, outrage, or mimicry to remind us we’re in a theater. If he doesn’t feel us fading (as in last Thursday’s performance for a couple of stretches), we feel like we’re in a lecture hall at Harvard.

With beautiful timing, Daisey creates hauntingly silent pauses in which you feel the audience holding its collective breath. What makes this a theater experience instead of an alpha male storyteller dominating a living room or bar room is Daisey’s notion that it’s not all about him exclusively. “We’re navigating the space together,” he said at a recent “Talk back” session with an audience.

Extending the metaphors he’s created with Edison and Tesla, Daisey ends his show saying, “Tonight you are charged and you will not dissipate.” And it dawns on us that if we could think as globally and non-linearly about our own lives, obsessions, and preoccupations as Daisey, we might generate enough electrons to illuminate our kitchens for an hour or so.

By then, the final statement in Daisey’s Director’s Note, “The alchemy of live performance makes our hearts larger, and our imaginations brighter than any of us can achieve alone” rings true.

Tickets still available
TONGUES WILL WAG – a special workshop performance of Mike Daisey's newest monologue!
One performance only! Tuesday, May 8 at 7:30 pm at Zero Arrow Theatre. Tickets: $20 - buy online or call 617.547.8300

Comments

[Carolyn Liesy]

I was not going to read this one but I did, and it was a brilliant summary and I would love to see him. I wonder if he will come to LA. Thank you again for making me feel like I was right there.