‘Swell’ Carves Out Raw, Wry Slice of Unspoken Aggression

Swaying figures stand like sentinels on two pedestals amid the small audience. Front-facing wigs hang from their waists, like the genitalia of classical statuary. Other performers push the sentinels down and take their places, in a rude variation of king-of-the-hill games.

So begins “Swell,” an intriguing and brief performance at Highways by Shrimps, a low-profile 14-year-old L.A. group.

“Swell” ends 50 minutes later with the performers back in the audience. This time, they aren’t rising above us or squabbling. They’re sitting quietly in our midst, listening to the dying minor chords on Shrimps member Weba Garretson’s foreboding soundtrack.

It isn’t clear how the group (Garretson plus Melina Bielefelt, Ryan Hill, Steve Nagler and Gail Youngquist, directed by Pam Casey) makes its arc from individual aggression to group harmony. Most of the performance focuses on the former, on the ways that people fight or hector one another and (literally, at one point) trod on each other.

At first, gender roles are sharp: Two women try to upstage each other as they alternate playing mindless, body-conscious puppet and puppet master, while two men dance separately and alone--one in wide flailing movements and the other in narrower shimmying.

A man wags his finger at an invisible audience, but part of the finger falls off, revealed to be a wiener. The bigger of the two men pulls a long rope while the other four cling to it. A topless Garretson brings on a huge jug of water and drinks; the others throw tomatoes at her.

This is in the first 20 minutes, which are followed by a 10-minute intermission. The second half begins with the quintet lined up, staring at the audience, until Garretson finally reveals the return of the wig at the waist. But then there is more frantic strife, including a scene that could have been taken from a mosh pit and another in which prone couples embrace so tightly that the one on the bottom appears to lose consciousness, only to reverse positions and roles.

Occasionally props appear--colored toilet covers and a gold chain. Their significance is elusive. Video, mentioned in the press release, never appears. Generally this is a piece of raw movement, with unspoken psychological points and sly wit but without much visual design or literary content.

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* “Swell,” Highways, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. Tonight at 8:30. $15. (213) 660-8587.