The Lovely Carla and I ventured out to see Mary Arrchie's lastest theatrical extravaganza last night. They're doing two short plays from Sam Shepard, "The Four H Club," and "Cowboy Mouth." Shepard and Mary Arrchie is certainly a match made in some distant heaven. Shepard's abstract poetry, his stream of consciousness brilliance, is brought down to the earth, and embodied by this grubby, energetic, troupe and well, it all really works so well. Shepard is such an inspiring writer, I mean, I know I would have never written a play, if I hadn't come across his work. Blame it on Sam!
"The Four H Club" was written in the sixties when Shepard was just starting out, and it's a hilarious, three stoogish, piece about man and nature. Eventhough, some might say the piece is an artifact from another time, for me, it resonates deeply today...nature can be cruel and violent, and all our "sophistication," and culture, is just a thin veneer...the MANDRILL is just outside the door and he is ready to devour us!
"Cowboy Mouth," is a phrase Patti Smith or Shepard picked up from Dylan's "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands." One can't help seeing this play as an autobiographical snapshot of the time a very young Smith and Shepard lived together in some hovel in NY. The two of them originally performed the play in 1971. There are some great monologues, one long rant from the character based on Patti Smith about rock & roll and Jesus, and how Dylan and Jagger vied to be the saviour, but well they both fell short and the world was waiting to be "saved" by some super rock and roll shaman. Turns out later, Patti Smith herself put on a semblance of the guise, and shit, she's still conjuring that r&r voodoo magic today.
I love the play. The Lovely Carla used to do one of the other monologues as an audition piece. Anyway, I walked out of the theater filled with a mad, unbounded joy...and really, that's what art and theater and poetry and music is about. And rock and roll will save us...yes, I do believe so!