William Ellis & cast of The Herald | Photo by Albert Hoang
Do you like it weird? I do. I like it very weird. I’m currently reading a novel by Renaissance woman, Miranda July, an artistic hero of mine. She holds a similar place in my psyche as David Lynch. (It’s really nice she’s still around.) But anyway, I’m reading her offbeat novel and its weirdness resonates because, like all her work, it’s so tender and mundanely human. In her conspiratorial, whispered voice, she invites me to see some weird part of life more clearly and understand it in a whole new light.
Jill Connell’s The Herald, presented by It Could Still Happen and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, was kinda like that for me. It opens in the form of a lecture, which may not thrill everyone, but I love lectures. Love. Them. It’s a weird lecture, contrasting astrological day and night charts, meditating on Antonio Banderas’ weird choice to leave a successful acting career, return to school and become a fashion designer so he can bring capes back. Except he didn’t bring capes back. Standing at her lectern, Connell’s opening spiel made me laugh out loud several times. It is also astonishingly moving as she interrogates this notion of being haunted by the things we don’t create, convincing us (me, at least) that they are as real as the things we do. Continue Reading