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Hallucinating
Elvis Hallucinating Elvis is a three-man monologue tag-team called Cracked Actor, delivering a mixed bag of rants and recitals about Elvis, taking in life, death, plane accidents, mapping the human genome and the cult of celebrity on the way, all to a rock and roll soundtrack and an eye-popping lightshow. Given Elvis's amazingly prolific output, the music is more varied than you might think; as well as grooving to the classics (and some of Elvis's less well-known works) the actors perform before (and are occasionally drowned out by) a wildly eclectic soundtrack, ranging from Bowie and Iggy Pop to Paul Simon's Graceland. The stage is equally wild; a frenetically strobed and back-lit space cluttered with fluorescent paint, aliens, fright wigs, mannequins, fluorescent stars, and all the other paraphernalia of the groovy bedroom. Three groovy bedrooms, in fact; Ben Coren, playing a sequined and touching young Elvis, exploring the emotional connection between celebrities and everyone else; Marcus Dilly, pelvis-twirling, sneering, Elvis grown up, chasing down gods and ghosts in Hollywood and Memphis, and Elliot Ing, fat Elvis out of control, plumbing the most embarrassing depths of fandom. With thirteen writers and nineteen sketches, it's a long and varied night, ranging from mystical and mythic to dark and disgusting, but never straying too far from the King. It's also informative, accompanied by an instructive slide-show, and full of facts about Elvis. Did you know quiffs were bad for you? Or that there's a woman in Memphis will charge you a few dollars to look at three of Elvis' pubic hairs? Or what Elvis said when he met the president? Of course, you can't trust any of it, and that's part of the fun; this show isn't about the real Elvis, it's about the Elvis in our minds; the Elvis of our dreams. Jeremy
Dennis
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