The Tim Machine
In the early days of Go Comedy! Improv Theater, original sketch comedy shows were generally Christmas novelties. Now in its fourth year, the company has been returning to the form with increasing frequency and consistency: sketch shows regularly fill the scripted-Thursday time slot and further venture into Friday’s mainstage performance schedule. The latest in the line is The Tim Machine, written by the ensemble cast and director Nancy Edwards, with additional writing by Genevieve Jona. Stretching backward and forward in time, no less than 40 years in each direction, this production achieves roaring multi-era success by laying out all kinds of storytelling and time-traveling rules and adhering to one above all the rest: Do what’s funny.
The viewer first lands in 1972, at almost the same moment as protagonist and time traveler Tim (Tim Kay). Having intended to venture from 2052 to the 2012 Occupy Detroit movement, he overshoots and finds himself in the middle of a central-casting version of a hippie revolution. The 70s agitators are angling for an end to war; civil rights for women, minorities, and homosexuals; and taking power back from the corporate Man…oh, that sounds familiar. It’s not lost on Edwards and company (nor on the audience) that the more things change, the more they stay the same, but that’s not all that this production has in store.
In keeping with the framework of Tim’s saga, the year in which he finds himself dictates the scene, beginning with a spate of throwback 1972 vignettes. Importantly, the device doesn’t hamper the creativity evident in these scenarios: scenes of children rejecting conventional gender roles or a new neighbor throwing a housewarming key party are clever in and of themselves, but the joke never stops at the novelty of hindsight. Some scenes draw clear parallels between the decades by poking fun at the latest technology or entertainment of the time. Here again, the associations aren’t forced and don’t preclude the inclusion of a great stand-alone sketch; there’s enough variety in scenic form and content to keep the viewer surprised, but not confused. A clear and elegant staging convention easily shifts Tim and the audience in his jumps through time, until he reaches 2012 with a very important message for his 99-percenter friends. Kudos to set designer Tommy LeRoy and lighting designer Michelle LeRoy for ably completing the illusion of the time machine in action.
Go Comedy! regulars Kay, Jennifer Bloomer, Michelle Giorlando, Gary Lehman, Sean May, and Heather Senjowski make up the solid ensemble cast. Off-the-wall characters and preposterous scenarios are passed over here in favor of grounded scene work that lets the fine writing and staging speak for itself. (Even so, the physical contributions of Senjowski’s precise full-body characterizations and May’s several compliant avatars are deserving of attention.) As Tim enters 2012 and the focus shifts from past to future, the material ramps up its inventiveness and weaves the story ends together for an amusing resolution. In the same way as the bygone content, the specifics of future technologies and fads are ancillary to the comic center of each scene, but their unexpectedness makes for some stellar material nonetheless — never more so than the bizarre and bitingly funny case of Bloomer’s permanently disdainful cautionary tale.
The whole of The Tim Machine is a satisfying sketch comedy show held together by an interesting story told with flexibility and finesse. For all these things to coexist in the same production, each without shortchanging the other, is an accomplishment worthy of considerable praise. The show's speedy ninety-odd minutes benefit from both a clear trajectory and abundant humor throughout, easing the viewer through a complex structure with such graceful proficiency that the laughs go on for years.
January 27, 2012