STAGE REVIEW : 3 MUMS JUST STUNTING AROUND FOR THE LAUGHS

“Awesome!” says a Mum after one of their stunts in “A Mum and His Symbols” at the Academy West Studio Theatre.

It’s a joke, but for those of us who can’t juggle two oranges without dropping one, there is something awesome about three guys who can flip medicine clubs at each other while maintaining (with the very same clubs) a perfectly synchronized drum tattoo.

That is heads-up juggling, and the Mums aren’t just jugglers. They’re fire-eaters, stilt-walkers, conjurers, gymnasts, razor-blade chewers. You name it. “A Mum and His Symbols” gives them a chance to show their stuff and also has some engaging behind-the-scenes stuff, with the boys sitting around the house (the Mummery?) groaning about how they hate to play birthday parties.

There’s also some talk about their need to “go to the edge.” This involves the risk of going over the edge, and the most interesting number in “A Mum and His Symbols” shows a juggling act collapsing, like a slow-motion movie of a dynamited building. It is the Juggler’s Nightmare, entropy made art.

Other parts of “A Mum and His Symbols” are just messy. The Mums (Roy Johns, Albie Selznick, Nathan Stein) are still at the stage where they think that more is more, and their new show tries to juggle film, live action, music, props, costumes, live pigeons and even a plot. The synchronization here is not perfect.

The story involves three Mayan magicians (played by the Mums), who fly through time and space (we see the home movies) to raise the social consciousness of a certain Los Angeles juggling troupe (the Mums again) just in time for their date at the Statue of Liberty.

This is the metaphysical layer of the show, and it’s pretty murky.

Playing two sets of characters also forces the Mums into doing quite a lot of running around backstage, at some cost to their juggling concentration--there were several slips on opening night.

Moreover, by forcing them to read lines, the show reminds us that their skills here aren’t out of the ordinary. Nobody asked the Mums to talk but if they’re going to do so, they need to learn to project.

It’s admirable that the Mums don’t want to be just an act, but they do have to start from there. Anything that lessens their effectiveness as physical performers is a trap. This show--conceived with Paul Sand (who directed) and Rudy LaValle--puts them through paces that don’t pay off and that tend to distract from their great set pieces.

As a program note indicates, it’s not easy for a group to “be itself.” Eventually, the Mums may decide that “going to the edge” means going deeper into what they already do, rather than trying to find something new to do with every show. “A Mum and His Symbols” has a certain harassed excitement, but it strews its symbols all over the floor.

CORRECTION: Two actors were mislabeled in Monday’s review of “Johnny Johnson” at the Odyssey Theatre. Joyce E. Greene plays the crabby mother and Robert Guidi is the mad psychiatrist.

‘A MUM AND HIS SYMBOLS’ An evening of mummery, at the Academy West Studio Theatre. Written and created by The Mums, Paul Sand and Rudy LaValle. Presented by Clara Sturak and Feathered Serpent Productions. Director Paul Sand. Set design Paul Sand. Lighting design Jose Lopez. Production manager Gretchen Kreiger. Stage manager Sharon Rosen. Music Mark Tschantz. Films Rocky Schenk and Tom Nordstrom. Costume design Ingrid Ferrin, Marlene Stewart. Technical director Rusty Fawcett. Prop master Ron Kittelsrud. Cast Roy Johns, Albie Selznick, Nathan Stein. Plays Fridays-Sundays, 8:30 p.m., 1711 Stewart St., Santa Monica. Ends July 27. (213) 281-9937.