Willamette Week - January 5-11, 2005
It's the video that ruined former Portland producer Gary Cole's rise into a position at the National Endowment of the Arts when Bush Baptists discovered he'd backed the project (see "Curtains," WW, Oct. 20, 2004). Poona the Fuckdog, a play by Jeff Goode filmed at its 2001 Theatre Vertigo production here in Portland, has some great moments of invention but quickly runs out of steam. Goode sends up American culture with a string of corrupt children's tales in which a lonely fuckdog finds help from her Fairy God Penis, a television rules a kingdom (how outlandish), and God vends answers for $5 a crack. There are some good performances by Portland actors Kam Sisco, Lori Ferraro and Keith Cable (who, come to think of it, plays a character called "Shrub." Could that have been the reason...?). Laura Smith, as the eponymous Poona, won an NYC video acting award for her work. But, like too many Saturday Night Live sketches, the show doesn't know when to end. Still, that so much fuss was created out of a quite light comedy is proof we're living in dark times indeed.
(Steffen Silvis)