The Wake

It would be moot to point out that Richard Nixon had no idea what his compulsive habit of recording conversations would get him in to. But this is fucking ridiculous, and fucking great. A group of actors resurrect Tricky Dick through 30-year old transcripts, so we get to see the overwhelmed and emotional “crook” beseeching Donald Rumsfeld to watch Brian’s Song for the films portrayal of race relations. He also lectures about drug use in America while smoking a joint with a confidant on the White House roof.

This is the basic format of Minneapolis native Michael Martin’s Verbatim Verboten to gather “private” transcripts of the rich, famous and powerful and give them to actors who recite them, word-for-word and tongue-in-cheek, in what amounts to a potent pop culture lampoon.

Started in Chicago in 1999, Verbatim Verboten has collected over 200 transcripts. Court proceedings, TV interviews, e-mails, phone messages, off-mic public events and 911 calls have been tossed like a lamb to the wolves of these actors’ calculated performances. “Most manuscripts are read completely,” said Martin, “but we screw around with the interpretation.”

Growing up in the Watergate era, and being buried like most in the Lewinsky fascination, Martin didn’t have to go far to find material and direction. And last year Martin, a resident of New Orleans, was delivered another load of epic governmental ludicrousness in the horrendous display of FEMA’s response to Hurricane Katrina.

As for other content, Martin need only pursue a few inquiries on the web to find lavish and opportune bait for a frenzy of celebrity. Last year, Paris Hilton’s portable Blackberry was famously hacked and information sewn through all of cyberspace. Through a patient combing, the text-messaged details of Paris’ daily life bellow from an actor playing the part of a slam poet.

Even though Martin says, “We make no effort to keep current,” gems like a drunk Ashlee Simpson crawling over a McDonald’s counter are too good to pass up.

Martin succeeds in tugging on the instinctual draw of another (in this case a famous one) person’s misfortunes and/or private goings-on and relishes the comedy behind the cult of celebrity and power all the meanwhile skipping along the line of outright offensiveness and well-deserved ridicule.

Verbatim Verboten has evolved and expanded since its’ conception in Chicago, and has shocked audiences into laughter in Seattle, New Orleans and New York. Now, in its first full production in Minneapolis, 12 brand new transcripts glisten and gleam waiting to be devoured by guest actors and new witnesses.

And as the content rotates, every show will different than the last. And in Verbatim Verboten’s scheduled run through April here in Minneapolis, that leaves plenty of mockery to be had.