BWW Reviews: FLYING V FIGHTS: HEROES & MONSTERS - A Spirited Start to the Summer Season

They're at it again, folks - duking it out, throwing each other across the room, torturing origami birds-I mean, these people are relentless. Flying V Fights: Heroes & Monsters marks a return to truly exciting form, performed by this year's Aniello Award-winning emerging theatre. An evening devoted to stage combat (fisticuffs, to be precise) played out in 13 loosely-structured scenes. If you are a big fan of action on the screen, on your hand-held, wherever, this is just the dream spectacle you need to get your summer off to a roaring start.

Now, for those of you who don't get what all the fuss is about, consider that the Washington, D.C. theatre scene has now reached a critical mass; we have a solid corps of actors with intense training in physical theatre of all kinds-with a dose of martial arts for good measure. Given all this talent, it is only natural that we'd want to see an evening devoted to a performing art that rarely gets the credit it deserves. Stage combat, when well done, is a highly effective storytelling device and can reveal hidden depths of character well beyond traditional dialogue. The skill required to knock each other silly for an hour and a half is tremendous, and the opportunity to see this kind of intense work up close is rare.

Jonathan Ezra Rubin has out-done himself with the combat choreography here, and Jason Schlafstein has added some nice narrative touches as well. Heroes & Monsters covers a broad range of story lines, some raw, some humorous, some genuinely heart-felt; and the dedicated cast performs in a thrilling, visceral fashion, enhanced further by Kristin A. Thompson's kinetic lights, Julie Roedersheimer's clever laser design, and especially Neil McFadden's rich musical selections.

Familiarity with some of our age's comic-book superheroes is helpful, but not entirely necessary: several scenes require almost no introduction whatsoever. Jon Jon Johnson, for example, has a hilarious turn as a diabolical violinist whose snatches of classical tunes ("The Devil's Trill Sonata," natch) have just the effect you'd expect from Satan's instrument-of-choice. Meanwhile, Lee Liebeskind and Robert Bowen Smith square off over a cute pink origami birdie, to the tune of Rossini's "William Tell Overture." (No fighting there, just a great sight gag). On the somber side, Tori Bertocci and Madeline Key engage in a nightmarish pas-de-deux in a riveting portrayal of a returning veteran's breakdown. Megan Reichelt has a few opportunities to kick butt on an epic scale, while Ryan Tumulty seems to be having entirely too much fun mixing it up in a variety of scenes.

The cast also finds time for a little deft puppetry, via a dream sequence with an amazingly dexterous teddy bear; and Darwin Cooke and Tim Sale's graphic novel "Date Knight" gets the Flying V treatment as well. If you like your music contemporary, you won't be disappointed; the pre-show selections are drawn largely from the classic rock era, but the playlist for the show draws from Murder By Death, Flaming Lips and Wye Oak, to name but a few contemporary artists well worth the listen.

You're bound to come away from this show with your own personal favorites; for me, "Date Knight," "Hurt" and "Origami" were memorable, each for completely different reasons. But the final scene, "The Greatest Story Never Told," has a plot twist that is charming and unforgettable, for audience members of a certain age. It shows that Flying V, in addition to all its talented physicality, has a huge heart.

So, treat yourself and stop by the Writer's Center soon, to catch Heroes and Monsters. I mean, now that the Stanley Cup is all wrapped up, you have no excuse, right?

AUDIENCE ADVISORY: Heroes & Monsters features brief nudity, hazer mist, strobe lights and mature situations more appropriate for age 17 and up.

Production Photo: Lee Liebeskind. Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography.

Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.

Flying V Fights: Heroes & Monsters runs June 11-28; Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2pm. Performances take place at The Writer's Center, 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD.

Tickets can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets online at http://flyingv.brownpapertickets.com, or at the door starting one hour before the performance.

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