Uneven ‘Bad Head’ not dirty, just degenerate

Why don't I explain the meaning of the title so that no one gets the wrong idea.

John Tomasello, writer-director of the Sirc Michael Productions' send-up "Bad Head," is mocking bad science-fiction oldies. He has mad scientists trying to figure out a way to keep body parts alive so that even after death -- or a severing of a life-sustaining apex -- people can continue living.

The doctors begin by trying to save patients, but it isn't long before they're decapitating victims in the hope that they'll find bodies to sustain them. It becomes a game. Adolf Hitler's face shows up as a possible donor, and, after realizing whom the face belongs to, a character moans, "bad head." So you see, this play isn't dirty. It's just degenerate.

There's no point in writing much about plot. Tomasello just wants to comically shock you. Most of the characters wind up inhabiting inappropriate body frames. All kinds of tacky "science" gadgets sit on the stage. Ominous chords pound whenever something dreadful is about to happen. And the acting is -- well, let's just say I wouldn't call it subtle.

Tomasello obviously has a knack for this kind of nonsense spoofing. But I wish, believe it or not, that he would take it more seriously. The occasional clever jokes easily hit their target, but the many bad ones make you wish the writer would go back to the drawing board. (How many more "Surely/Shirley" puns can the world take?)

The pacing in the first act is slow when it needs to be frantic. The brief second act picks up nicely and makes you realize what might have been if Tomasello had taken more time to apply some good-old fashioned structure.

This long-feeling evening could easily be, with expert editing and polishing, an entertaining one-act. The audience participation encourages goodwill. But for now, it's an uneven curiosity. You feel as if the genre may have worn out its welcome.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at vegastheaterchat@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.