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[THEATER REVIEW] Tomas Kubinek at the Mahaiwe
9.4.06
MAHAIWE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Tomas Kubinek
September 3, 2006
review by SETH ROGOVOY, critic-at-large, BERKSHIRE LIVING Magazine
(Great Barrington, Mass., September 4, 2006) -- Talk about your one-man shows. Tomas Kubinek is a one-man circus and dramatic repertory company and band. This guy is so talented at so many different things he makes your average multitasker look like a sloth.
Something of a neo-vaudevillian in that he is a jack-of-all-performing arts (and master of all), Kubinek could equally be called a 'performance artist,' in that there is a running subtext to his show and everything he does that is subtle but that takes the basic elements of his act -- which are to entertain and tickle the funny bone -- and make it into transcendent art. And Kubinek's humor, while deceptively simple as physical comedy, slapstick, magic tricks, storytelling, and even bits of improvisational stand-up comedy, is also pointed and subtly political.
It's also a celebration of old-fashioned, pre-digital entertainment (although it makes sophisticated use of contemporary stagecraft, lighting, and some pre-recorded music). Something of a child prodigy as a performer, Kubinek -- who was born in Czechoslovakia but who emigrated with his family to Canada at age 3 -- makes the most of his odd appearance -- he is funny looking but also ageless (he could be 30 or 60, but judging by his bio he's probably about 40, and must be in incredible physical shape in order to pull off some of his stunts) and plays up both qualities as part of his stage act.
Halfway through his act he seemed a master of well-planned stage vignettes -- magic tricks, acrobatic stunts, stories that delighted young children and adults alike -- and then Kubinek surprised us with a whole other side of his personality -- his sharp, cutting improvisational wit, that came at the good-natured expense of an audience member named Jerry who just happened to hail from New Jersey (BINGO! Kubinek must've thought when he found out where the guy he selected was from). Simply by asking basic, direct questions of Jerry (where are you from? what do you do? what are you doing here?) Kubinek spun an entire routine around Jerry and, by extension, about the Berkshires itself, of the sort you'd expect from a Robin Williams, but not necessarily from a guy whose previous claim to fame up until that point was the ability to do a somersault while keep a full glass of wine balanced on his forehead (I kid you not).
In other words, Kubinek is a brilliant performer, one who commanded the stage for a full 90-minute variety show even though he was the only one (except for a few audience members) who was ever on stage.
Now THAT's entertainment.
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