Skip to main contentThere is a dress-up bin, a black box and lots of booze onstage. That is all...until Stacey Hallal's feisty and fiery Ruby Rocket stumbles onto the scene, Jack Daniels in hand, flaunting her hip-to-waist ratio. "This is my office." She pushes the black box to the right. "This is the police station." The box goes left.
Fertile Groundâs workshop production of Ruby Rocket, Private Eye is an unpredictable collage of audience-performer interaction, completely improvised by Curious Comedy Theater founder Hallal. From the drunken 007-esque opening, itâs clear that Ruby Rocket lacks Bondâs poise, but not his pageantry. The man-eating, whiskey-drinking private detective makes up for any deficiency in suaveness with plenty of spunk.
As improv goes, Hallalâs show depends on audience, so the act is best viewed with a larger, possibly tipsy, crowd. She calls out to the room at large, hijacks volunteers and distributes hats. In its best moments, Ruby Rocket becomes a witty act with audience engagement: âWe were talking bâfore âbout core values,â Hallal slurs. âOne a mine is whiskey.â At worst, it is a plotless romp in which characters bumble about and the audience feels forced to chuckle along. But when Hallal enjoys herself itâs obvious, making you really want to like her, despite an often shoddy plotline.
The show is just as much about Hallal and her lighting crew as it is about characters onstage. Ruby Rocket is a comedy of lighting mishaps and spotlighted monologues that both provide comedy and elicit respect for the challenges of a completely improvised show. Friday became âThe Case of the Missing Beach Ball,â and who knows what other balls will go missing through the rest Ruby Rocketâs workshop run.
SEE IT: Curious Comedy Theater, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Blvd., 477-9477, curiouscomedy.org. 9:30 pm Saturday, Jan. 26. $12-$15.
WWeek 2015