Audio By Carbonatix
Something’s happenin’ here, and what it is ain’t exactly clear. But it’s exciting, funny and bugged-out. The Home Medical Shopping Network, an hour-long performance theater piece now playing at The Bug, takes on the business of medicine and the inanity of cable TV (and the culture that has produced them both), ridicules them cleverly and then good-naturedly includes us all in the satire. The multi-media event is strange enough that it won’t appeal to everyone. But it’s full of rage, high spirits, dark implications, nasty innuendo and great wit.
Home Medical is anything but traditional in form. Audience members are incorporated into the show as shareholders attending the imaginary network’s annual “spring shareholders meeting.” The stage is set up with a video camera and two TV monitors, and the messy-looking set includes two tall director’s chairs for network executives who serve as hosts.
Before the houselights dim, a man walks out on the set with a cellular phone and a pair of surgical gloves. As he goes through the motions of practicing his putts, he calls his wife to tell her he’ll be late. He calls his mistress to tell her he’ll be over. He calls a partner who we can assume is hysterical, since our hero replies in hushed tones, “I’m a doctor, not a priest. It won’t be all right for her, but it will be all right for us.”
In a few short strokes, performer David Walker satirizes the conscience-free medical practitioner. He speaks so softly, you miss some of what he says, but the quiet in his voice, the professional bedside mannerisms, and the soothing way he delivers his advertisements for the Home Medical Shopping Network to the video camera are oozing with pathological self-interest. As he speaks to the camera, we also can watch him on the monitors, looking into our eyes with a hypocritical gaze worthy of the worst TV evangelist.
Network executives Hugh Graham and Ray Schelgunov (played by actors of the same names) conduct most of the meeting’s business, reassuring the shareholders that they are not corporate gurus, just karaoke-tournament champions. They then sing along to Dean Martin to prove it, holding newspapers in front of their faces–the ultimate phonies.
Later Robert Ashtray (Donnie Scott, the only performer who uses a name other than his own) sings the song that announces the Network’s new cause, “Feed the Kids.” The message: Feed the children today so that they can grow up to be good consumers for the Home Medical Shopping Network.
The show drags in places, but even the tedium seems to be part of the statement, and part of the fun. We’ve all watched enough public and cable TV to recognize what this group is up to.