How/Why Is A D.C. Theater Going To Stage “The Aristocrats”?

You know that classic joke with the gooey, ad-libbed, gross-out center known as "The Aristocrats"? Well, the D.C.-based theater company Cherry Red is about to close up shop, and their final production is going to be an adaptation of this legendary, horrid, vile, beloved joke. But how? And more importantly, why?

Nobody is surprised that Cherry Red is going out in a blaze of filth and glory—one play of theirs involved a fake blood-filled taxidermied cat flying through the air, so the company has a reputation for grime and gore—but since details about "The Aristocrats" script are sparse, it's hard to imagine how the play will go down. According to the Washington City Paper, Artistic Director Ian Allen and writer/actor Kate Debelack don't want to reveal much about the script, but at the time the article was written, they noted, "there's a mohel, a person-sized ass, an actor dressed as a penis, another one dressed as a vagina, and at least 'a page and a half' of continuous bodily functions." That sounds like a solid start.

Oh, and don't bother looking around Cherry Red's own website for answers either. They offer "a sneak peek video from rehearsal" that turns out to be almost twenty-five seconds of a man setting his scrotum on fire.

Is there really a point to staging "The Aristocrats"? Will a planned and plotted play do the joke any justice? A large part of the telling of the joke is the thrill of improvising the most disgusting details of the family act, but Cherry Red already has a script. That being said, perhaps the script is nothing more than a loose structure upon which given characters can build the joke.

On another level, we're concerned that the telling of "The Aristocrats" works in ways that the acting out of the joke can't. When the joke is delivered by a single comedian—sometimes said in a deadpan tone, sometimes said with mounting hysteria—the audience absorbs the words and claims some responsibility for them. A listener can choose to envision the horrors described by the comedian, or not. On stage, however, Cherry Red is responsible for depicting every second of the joke. They've mentioned that they want the show to last an hour, so we expect that this will be more a test of endurance (both the actors' and the audience's) rather than a humorous play.

Then again, anyone who's ever tried to construct their own "Aristocrats" joke knows that it's less about comedy and more about stamina, so perhaps Cherry Red has the right idea.

We suppose we shouldn't be concerned about these dramaturgs getting the joke right because "The Aristocrats" isn't about right or wrong. It's about creativity and fresh thinking in the face of lowbrow humor, and that sounds like the kind of territory that Cherry Red has mastered over the years. As it stands, we know the beginning of their play, we know how it will end, and it's up to them to make the middle as insane as possible.

Anyway, this isn't a theater critiquing blog; this is Fleshbot. So, uh, how about Cherry Red showing us some boobs? That'd be awesome!

· Cherry Red Productions (cherryredproductions.com)
· Via Popped: Cherry Red, D.C.'s Most Debaucherous Theater Troupe, Hangs It Up (washingtoncitypaper.com)

[Perhaps the staged version of "The Aristocrats" will look a little something like Sex and Submission (promo.sexandsubmission.com)]