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Review: Who is T. Henry Baudecliffe? at The Hideout [Improv]
Who is T. Henry Baudecliffe? It’s both the name of The Hideout Theatre’s newest main stage improv show and the question the show itself puts forth.
Walking in to the theater to find a seat, one is treated to a live musical presentation. Four of the cast members play small instruments, mostly percussion, and seem to be improvising a song. It’s whimsical, simple and playful. They exit and a video plays. The video is sort of a documentary about T. Henry Baudecliffe. The story goes that in 2009, a man passed away at St. Mark’s Community Home in Austin. The staff discover loads of drawings and scribblings—the beginnings of stories, parts of stories, fragments. Without any known relatives to bequeath these to, they begin to dessiminate to the greater community. The drawings are child-like, and share similar themes: fear of industry, insects, birds. The documentary shows us some of these drawings and features interviews with a variety of individuals who knew Baudecliffe, though none knew him more than cursorily, or have come to know his works. No definitive answer is given, as some think him an idiot savant and others dismiss him as talentless. After the documentary presentation, it is explained that we are to witness an improvised Baudecliffe tale, or at least as one might be imagined since he did not seem to ever complete a story. Some of the interview clips and samples of Baudecliffe's work are online at whoisthenrybaudecliffe.com.
The improv show begins in earnest after an audience member selects a random number corresponding to one of the Baudecliffe pieces that co-host, director, and narrator Curtis Luciani, has in numbered folders. Luciani begins his narration and the audience settles in for a tale of child-like wonder, with monsters and machines waiting to devour the protagonist. It quickly becomes apparent that there’s something very different about this improv show. It’s an improvised narrative, meaning it’s a complete story with a beginning, middle and end, unlike the improvised sketch show format often seen in Austin. It also makes heavy use of a narrator. Neither of these two facts are particularly unusual, especially for improv shows at The Hideout. The difference is in the subject matter and the choices made by the narrator and cast, more than the structure of the show itself. The source material gives the show a naive and innocent feel, yet with deeply sinister undertones. The way the cast uses movement and contact feels like it's headed toward dance at times, or at least toward something a little more experimental than the average improv show. The ensemble members act as characters, of course, but they also end up representing a great deal of the environment, as well as embodying insects and animals. Sometimes they appear to be simply a part of the environment but as the scene progresses they become characters.
Another unusual choice for the show is that the narrator, many times in the show, stops narrating to comment directly to the audience on the finer points of Baudecliffe’s work as it applies to the current moment. While all of this sounds like it might be confusing or chaotic, it ends up having a nice flow. Furthermore, on the night Austinist caught the show, the story itself felt very rewarding at the end. Many times narrative improv shows can become hectic or chaotic at the climax, when the cast begins to feel the end is near. The push to try and wrap things up in a nice bow can often cause just the opposite to happen. This show came together in a satisfying manner that resolved the action as well as encapsulating the Baudecliffe piece chosen to inspire that particular night.
So the lights come down after a unique improv show, and one is left to ponder the question the show asks: Who Is T. Henry Baudecliffe? They've presented a documentary and some of his work. They've shown us what they imagine a full story might look like. But they don't ask the question that one can't help but wonder. How real is what we're experiencing? The answer is another question: Does it matter? No. It doesn't. The work stands on its own, regardless of who T. Henry Baudecliffe is.
Who is T. Henry Baudecliffe? is playing on Saturday nights at 8 pm at The Hideout Theatre (617 Congress Ave.) through the end of August.
