By Sagar Jha, Arts Contributor
If you were around the SUB last Friday afternoon, you would have seen Eric Davis dressed as the Red Bastard handing out flyers for his three-night-stand in Halifax. The New York theatre star brought his highly interactive bouffon-style to the Neptune Studio. In a small room with a small audience, Davis entered and created a very unique, funny and interactive experience for the audience. The Red Bastard is adorned with creepy red and white make-up and wears a fat-suit in order to create a grotesquely hilarious image. This image is a good reflection of the show.
The Red Bastard hangs on one of the basic principles of the theatre which is that “something interesting must happen every 10 seconds.” The Red Bastard engages the audience with intensely crude humor and calculated movements on stage in order to keep the show interesting. During the show, Davis would periodically go into the audience and talk directly to people, asking thought provoking questions and having them do outrageous things.
Eric Davis taps into a very unique part of the human psyche. He brings out the worst and the best in people as he tests them and encourages the audience to give into their urges. At one moment he asked the audience to wink at the person in the room whom they have been having sexual fantasies about. Eric Davis has no shame in brutal and otherwise inappropriate honesty.
One of the greatest strengths of the show was the movement. Davis would walk all throughout the theatre in very odd and unique ways, creating an incredibly dynamic performance. Even when he would limit himself to the stage, his hypnotic, smooth, yet sometimes spastic movements were incredibly interesting. Davis’ unique way of moving on the stage and throughout the theatre complimented his humor very well. Not only was Davis a master of movement, he demanded the audience to move as much as he did. The crowd would be shuffling seats and standing on chairs every so often.
The show wasn’t entirely off the wall and high energy, though. At one point The Red Bastard became very sentimental with the audience. He asked the crowd about their dreams and why they hadn’t accomplished them. He posed very difficult questions which challenged everyone on their life choices. At one point he had someone call their boss and quit their job. It was incredible how this show made members of the audience realize what they truly want out of life.
The show ended with a very sentimental speech from Davis as he encouraged audience members to step out of your comfort zone and do the things you’ve always wanted to. While giving this speech Davis took off all of his suit leaving himself completely nude on stage. Normally this would shock an audience, but Davis created a context that made it work.
Things took a turn for the worse when Davis chose to walk down busy Argyle Street completely naked. Davis received a warm applause from members of the audience, but the response of the Halifax Regional Police was not as warm; he was arrested and removed from the area. Davis did return to Neptune Theatre about 20 minutes later only to be greeted with a thunderous applause from members of the audience who were still around.
The Red Bastard shocked the crowd with his intensely crude humor but left them motivated to achieve their true goals.
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