"Bride of Blood" by Trepany House at the Titmouse Warehouse
October 21, 2023
What terrors befall us when we lift a message out of context?
That’s the theme of Trepany House’s latest production, “Bride of Blood,” a Mondo Bibliodrama about King Solomon written and directed by Amit Itelman, starring Davey Johnson, and performed at a warehouse space in Titmouse Animation Studio’s Hollywood campus. Much like Solomon’s own journey, this is a theatrical experience with many surprising trap doors— the most prominent being the precious rarity of an LA venue that provides its own parking.
We’re in the “Titmouse Warehouse,” a venue more familiar to hosting anti-Trump art galas, concerts with fast food-themed metal bands and of course their annual “Smash Party” where employees channel creative rage by recreating the copier scene from Office Space in protective cages. (Full disclosure: my husband works for Titmouse, so I have seen my fair share of broken copiers).
Perhaps other directors would be fazed at crafting something from nothing, least of all on the campus of a thriving animation studio, but not Itelman. Conjuring something incredible from the impossible is his bread and butter. For years, he was the Artistic Director of the late great Steve Allen Theatre, a place known just as much for its creative community as its (brace for it) plentiful private parking (as humans we are naturally drawn to the rare and exotic, and this is my personal Alamo).
But of course, the theatre was so much more—a coven of creativity. A hot bed of beautiful abominations. A halfway-home for performers too fringe for the popular zones of UCB and too specific for the broad-appealing Improv and Comedy Store. Pop into their intimate seats any night of the week and you may find playwrights attempting their own ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ or esteemed comedians like Eddie Izzard and The Kids in the Hall testing out new stuff to the Allen’s trademark open-minded audience. Of course, they also hosted the too-wild-to-fail, “Re-Animator: The Musical” one of the few theatre jewels to open with their own “audience splash zone” for blood.
It’s this “fuck it, let’s just do it” spirit that permeates through Itelman’s production of “Bride”, a show that radiates with the familiar sense of your weirdest friends trying something new, whether or not you’re pious enough to know the plot. Just in case, it goes like this: King Solomon likens himself to be the wisest King in the world but stumbles on the meaning of the Bible’s Exodus 4:24, which sees Moses and his wife endangered by a wrathful God. In his journey to suss out why a loving God would hurt a follower as loyal as Moses, Solomon is overtaken with pride, lust, and the pernicious advice of a 3-headed demon named Asmodeus. Ya know, typical Bible shit.
If you’re thinking this is a wild choice for a fun Saturday night, you’re not alone. Itelman is doing double-duty as both director and writer, describing his adaptation as a “phantasmic retelling of the adventures of King Solomon,” which basically means there’s a hell of a lot of puppets here (something I’m now requiring of all Biblical tales). In Itelman’s world, demons are now domesticated and prophets are now faceless and magic powers can be beamed from god-given rings, because of course they can. Ancient tales are often best when we don’t second-guess their daffy logic.
It’s Johnson who holds it all together, playing his King with the over-confident affability of a Coen Bros anti-hero. He softens this otherwise-stuffy King with an ease and humor, a familiarity that could be just as much attributed to his skills as a performer to his comfort with Itelman. For years, Johnson was a fixture on the Steve Allen stage, particularly for their infamous (and still going!) late night show, “The Tomorrow Show” hosted by Ron Lynch. In this weekly midnight mass, comedy fans gathered to witness stand-up, sketch and everything in between with Johnson as a resident chaos-bringer. Much like everything else in the Allen’s slate, it was less a comedy show and more a competition to test the audience’s will as the show stretched into the wee hours of the morning— and if that sounds like Hell to you, that’s precisely the appeal.
“Bride” is not without its flaws, but it more than makes up for that with its wild swings. Like the demon Asmodeus played by a scene-stealing Tom Ballatore who succeeds at the impossible actor’s task of not being upstaged by his additional 2 heads. Then there’s a puppeted “Angel of Death” that attacks in the show’s second half, a mix between a Rat Fink devil and a Pee Wee’s Playhouse player gone through the wash of Judge Doom’s toxic goo. Of course, our finale completes this holy trifecta with a nightmarish walk-around costume/puppet — and I won’t spoil the finale surprise, but it does involve a giant foreskin.
Small theater is about witnessing the tries that defy genre, logic, or even a conventional venue. It’s about sparking with an idea and pursuing it completely, witnessing a company perform full-heartedly and struggling to describe what you saw to properly encapsulate all of its freaky details, so it’s best to just not try. As Solomon learns in the show’s 75-ish minute run; as we learn whenever we step out of the bounds of routine; as Titmouse hopefully learns that becoming a full-time theater house is a worthy endeavor — it’s all about the context.
“Bride of Blood” is currently being performed in weekend performances at the Titmouse Warehouse through the end of January. Tickets are $25. Learn more about Trepany House and purchase tickets here.