Jihad for Vent and Dummy
nytheatre.com review by Richard Hinojosa
February 25, 2009
What if I told you that ventriloquism is a lie? To be more specific, what if I said that it is not possible to throw one's voice? Would that drain the magic from the art and cause you to have a less enjoyable experience? Well, that is just exactly what Ron Coulter tells us at the top of Jihad for Vent and Dummy. The question is, why would he want us to not believe in the magic his art form?
In theater, as in many other forms of entertainment, the suspension of disbelief is a key element to enjoying the show. If you can't get over the fact that Coulter has hand up his dummy's back and is talking to himself then you're not going to have a good experience at the show. The fact is we do suspend our disbelief and we do it willingly without being told to do so. We believe without thinking and that's what Coulter is trying to break down. He contends that belief is a detrimental to our society. He says, "We have become a nation of believers rather than thinkers." Belief, he says, is too absolute. It draws a line in the sand and says "you're either with me or you're against me."
Coulter understands that he is not going to be able to stop people from believing in gods or science or what have you. But he can, at the very least, make his audience a thinking one. So he begins by telling us that it is not him throwing his voice into the dummy. His voice, he tells us, is coming from the same place it does when he speaks as himself but it is us that puts the voice into the puppet. We create the magic. After telling us this he launches into a short play within this play in which he breaks down conventions of belief by, for example, switching his and the dummy's voice, in order to experiment on us. Afterward he brings the house lights up and asks us how that affected our perspective of the performance.
So why wouldn't he want us to believe that the dummy is talking? Coulter explains by comparing belief with faith. He contends that they are two very different animals. Belief is the past while faith is the future. In fact he says that faith and imagination are the same thing. I found that statement very interesting and I wanted to hear more about that but he moves on. What it boils down to is: even if he pulls open the curtain and shows us the man pulling the levers, our belief is not diminished because the magic is in all of us.
I really enjoyed the concept of this show. I walked out thinking about what I had just witnessed rather than immediately forgetting it. Jihad for Vent and Dummy is a thinking person's vaudeville act. That said, the act itself brings nothing particularly new to the table. The jokes are worth a few chuckles but not a belly laugh. Coulter is a talented ventriloquist and he nimbly manipulates the puppet but it's not a dazzling feat to witness. Still, that didn't weigh heavily on my thoughts of this show. I enjoy being challenged and if you enjoy the same then definitely check this one out before it moves on.
