dog & pony dc promises audiences that A Killing Game is “the most fun they’ll have dying.” I am here to tell you that they’re not lying! This revamped production of the December 2012 ensemble-devised production is a game show with a twist. That twist just happens to be an outbreak of a deadly disease. Cue the campy, sing-song opening number, and the audience participation!!
The audience participation element of this expertly devised piece of theatre is both addictively fun and comfortable at the same time. The level of one’s participation is up to each individual audience member, allowing for theatre artists and extroverts to amp up their participation and introverts and traditional audience members to minimize their participation. Neither level of participation is discouraged, and everyone is sure to have an unprecedented amount of fun!! The expert aspect of the show, in my opinion, is in the succinct scripted elements. They happen, they are hilarious, but then it is up to you and your experience to fill the remaining part of the puzzle.
It helps that the expert ensemble (Wyckham Avery, Sean Paul Ellis, Jessica Lefkow, J. Argyl Plath, Jon Reynolds, Rebecca Sheir, and Yasmin Tuazon) guiding you through the show is supremely talented, warm, and friendly. Their invitation to enter their world and help tell their story is one that you just can’t pass up. I applaud the ensemble and their masterful director, Colin K. Bills, on a finely tuned, engaging, and entertaining evening of theatre.
Where else are you going to be encouraged to use your smartphone during the show, share your feelings on the use of the Care Bear Stare as a panacea for plague, and laugh your ass off? I will answer this question for you. NOWHERE!
Please get your tickets in advance for this laugh-riot production! I will definitely be returning for another performance of A Killing Game, and I hope that you’ll join me.
Running Time: 90 minutes, with no intermission.
A Killing Game plays July 11 to 28, 2013 at Woolly Mammoth Melton Rehearsal Hall – 641 D Street, NW, in Washington, DC. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit their Capital Fringe Page.
Read the 2013 Capital Fringe Show Preview: dog & pony dc’s ‘A Killing Game’ by Colin Bills (Director).
