When you're a bar-goer -- and I am -- you know that from 10:30 p.m. until last call, you can see countless scenes without changing bar stools. When you're a drinker -- and I am -- you'll find there are shards of these scenes in your memory you can't quite collect.
Offstage's 15th (or 16th, they've lost count) Anniversary production of Barhoppers will leave you bleary with an image-laden, psychological montage -- whether you drink during the show or not. Comprised of seven plays by mostly local playwrights, Barhoppers is a compilation that hangs together because all of the plays take place in bars.
Beyond this common trait, though, Barhoppers offers a myriad of sketches that are strung more on human energy than a concrete theme. Actress Jenn Roberts said, "We specifically wanted to cover a wide range of topics, characters and genres -- everything from slapstick to parodies to more dramatic pieces."
Barhoppers literally hops from venue to venue. I caught the show at Gravity Lounge last week; this week Barhoppers hit O'Neill's. The show closes at Rapture on the Downtown Mall next week -- see it Sunday through Tuesday.
Fascinatingly meta-theatrical, the production ends up encompassing most of the elements you'd find during a long night at the bar: strange encounters with sketchy characters, previously unheard-of vernacular, people who can't get over the past, romance, hilarity, insecurity and love, plus, of course, plenty of booze.
"As a whole, [the plays] represent how many of our most significant, silly and memorable life moments can occur in such a commonplace setting," Roberts said.
My experience of the show opened with a glass of wine and a play called "Lives of the Formerly French," in which an unwanted barfly who believes he is Louis XIV reincarnated stalks an innocent beer-drinker in a classic straight man/funny man situation.
"Scandal for Randall" assails the audience with obscure, surfer-ish vernacular and a soap opera-esque plot, creating a pastiche on sensational culture with such expressions as "Steg-o-saurus!"
"Roller Coasters and Bumper Cars" is the evening's most serious piece about two brothers grappling with their father's mistakes. Some of Barhoppers' most wrought moments (and best acting) occur in this play.
U.Va. students will find lots to identify with in "Automatic Writing," a hilarious piece about an artsy girl and a preppy bonehead guy working together on a creative writing assignment. (My experience of this play was enhanced by the irony of my fantastic yet conspicuously khaki-clad date's perhaps overly-curled ball cap, while I scribbled dramatically in my notebook. How's that for art imitating life?)
Well into my second glass of wine by "Still Blonde... Runs Deep," I found myself deeply identifying with the hair-color struggles in this one-woman monologue.
I won't pretend to remember everything about "Backing Up," except that I suspect this zany play about an impromptu, dysfunctional wedding wouldn't have made much more sense to a sober audience member.
Like lots of community-based theater, some parts of Barhoppers soared while others went as flat as day-old lager. But, keeping tabs on what worked and what didn't in the show is beside the point. Like a good night at the bar, everyone will experience Barhoppers differently.
Somewhere between 2.2 and 2.6 glasses of wine (I recommend the Pinot Grigio, by the way), I floated out of Gravity Lounge (I said I was a drinker, not a heavyweight) and onto the Downtown Mall. My recollection of the evening hung together without much cohesion.
Barhoppers splits the imagination the way a slightly blurry night over too many drinks often can. Yet it's remarkable how an evening that seemingly doesn't fit together can still make you feel as if you've made some kind of mystic progress. This may have had something to do with the alcohol, but I'd like to think it had more to do with the buzz I get from live theater.
Barhoppers at Rapture, Sunday April 17-Tuesday April 19, 8 p.m. Tickets $8.
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