Highways’ London Imports Offer a Bumpy Ride to Laughs

A very odd British import arrived at Highways in Santa Monica.

“I Wanna Be Adored” consists of two different programs by six performance artists or groups associated with the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Unless you wanna be a-bored, it’s probably best to skip the long and erratic first program, which opened Thursday.

The most effective performance by far belonged to Ronald Fraser-Munro, whose triptych of brief caricatures was meant to satirize colonialism. These included a stuffy Britisher who spoke of white supremacy (Fraser-Munro is black) and a Gestapo officer who sang “Ol’ Man River” while raising his arm in a Nazi salute.

But the funniest was Cesare Cappucino, “the world’s hippest cardinal,” who above the waist sported the wide-brimmed hat and cape of a Jesuit missionary, below the waist the tight pants and boots of an English rider. Brandishing a riding crop he vowed to “thrash” his unrepentant congregation.

“I hope tonight you’ll realize there’s no heaven, only hell,” he murmured.

Hell arrived soon enough, but first there was Michael Atavar, a self-proclaimed avatar of gay kitsch. Sporting a gold-sequined suit and a buzz cut, Atavar wandered through desultory “stories” about supermodels, ‘60s pop singers and his day job in a shabby hotel. The act benefited from the monologuist’s coolly ironic presence, yet still resembled half-baked stand-up.

No director is credited for “I Wanna Be Adored,” which may explain why the excesses of the last group, the aptly named Forced Entertainment, went unchecked. The six members of this Sheffield-based troupe sat behind conference tables and for the next hour launched a static, self-indulgent and nearly incoherent narrative of their own performance history, occasionally pausing for spoken snippets from past shows.

At one point a troupe member lamented a “savage” review from a British newspaper: “The whole performance is wholly out of control. There is little to enjoy here and much to regret.” Amen.