Playing at Theatre Sainte-Catherine until December 2, Loucho: The Multicoloured Machine is a colourful explosion of giggles, gags, dance, juggling, balloons, hula hooping, acrobatics, pantomime, amazing feats of strength and balance, and straight-up fun. It has live music, audience participation, fabulous costuming, and a liquor license. Take note: when this show says “all ages,” it doesn’t mean ‘for kids:’ it means ‘ditch your parties, gigs, and other supposedly cool Friday night activities, and get on down here.’
Written by Mark Louch, who also plays the lead—but featuring about one-fifth improvisation from the talented cast—Loucho is a tale with all the hallmarks of a winning production.
Drama! Dunderwaits, a mischievous, and rather terrifying villain, has seized control of a mysterious multi-coloured machine, and stands to suck all colour out of Loucho’s already bleak and impersonal world. Our hero is an endearing and inexperienced everyman who, one day at his office, unexpectedly receives an urgent summons to embark on an epic venture to save his world and loved ones. Will he succeed?
Romance! Loucho’s bumbling companion for the journey is the sweet-as-pie Sam (Lise Vigneault). From the pair’s synchronized sneezing and shared states of continual awkward bewilderment, we can tell Sam belongs by Loucho’s side forever—but will they realize this in time?
Amazing onstage feats! A night out at Loucho will treat you to a myriad of acts: from mid-air twists and plummets of jaw-dropping audacity, to a bowling-themed juggling extravaganza performed by a man with an impressively sleazy moustache, and a villain so terrifying that a member of audience had to be escorted out crying—twice.
Insightful social commentary! Loucho’s is a ‘hypermodern tech-crazed world destitute of colour,’ in which no joy exists. Everyone wears black and white, and the craze for technology is so rampant that even babies have cell phones. As comical as Dunderwaits and her monochrome, tech-obsessed henchmen may be, do they reveal to us a dark image of our future? This theme is surprisingly well-handled: the cast hails from a production company that specializes not in children’s fare, but instead produces instead thought-provoking theatre for the thinking adult. The threat of lost community and identity is communicated in a manner far less obtrusive and in-your-face than most adult literature or theatre—and with more fire. Did I mention there’s fire?
Sex appeal! Be sceptical as much as you like here, but the fact of the matter is, there’s repeated handholding, and very nearly, even a kissing scene! Abigail, the benevolent blushing maiden with an awe-inspiring solo hula scene, is played by the stunning burlesque producer Esmerelda Jasso-Nadaeu. You heard it here—burlesque!
A free lesson in French! The performance gets by on amazingly little dialogue: Loucho is a master of communicating in a void of sound, and it’s always impressive when it takes the voice of another performer to make you realize that the lead himself hasn’t uttered a sound for the past two scenes. Here, the scenes are constructed with the visual and the physical firmly at the centre. But, for those from out of town, bilingual children’s theatre is in itself, a spectacle to behold.
So get over your fears of clowns and “all-ages” event tags, and get on down to the circus. You might go in ‘ironically,’ but I challenge anyone with some humour and soul to leave this show without a genuine smile on their face.
Loucho runs until Dec. 2 at Théâtre Ste. Catherine (264 Ste. Catherine East). Tickets $15.
