Take a 5th Century BC "Old Comedy" by Aristophanes that castigated the Olympian gods and satirized the government hierarchy while promoting a takeover to create a kind of Utopian social order that afforded everyone the right to determine their own ends; now turn it into a raucous 21st Century AD comedy that promotes a "woke" awareness, and celebrates "diversity, equity, and inclusion": the result is Theatre AUM's lively, R-rated The Birdz, director Neil David Seibel's adaptation of the Greek master's The Birds.
Mr. Seibel has reduced a very long play into a mere 75-minutes of sheer rowdy entertainment with song and dance, and several messages that were well received by an attentive audience.
Peisetairos [Meadow Lokey] and his friend Euelpides [Jay Russell] are dissatisfied with the restrictions of life as they know it, and set out to join the birds of the air to enjoy a perceived unrestricted freedom by becoming birds themselves. And they encounter mistrust and gradual acceptance by the birds they meet: Trochilus [Worth Harris], Epops [Atticus O'Banner] and Procne [Daylyn Knox]. -- Grace Brennan and Terrell Portis join them in several roles each that add challenges to achieving the goals set forth by the two leads.
Scenic design by Ada Withers uses periaktoi that swivel to depict scene changes, and provides various platforms and steps to afford ample performing space; Tyranny Causey's clever colorful costumes are delightful; and projections by Michael James Pritchard and Ada Withers are aptly cartoonish.
It's all very silly and "camp", and the ensemble seem to be enjoying themselves. They've got strong singing voices too. Plus, they're all rather talented in producing characters who, for all their preposterousness, make us think about the world today and wonder at how we might appear to future generations.
