‘Feet’ Goes on Journey of Puzzling Interest

The title of Padraic Duffy’s whimsical comedy “Feet,” at Sacred Fools Theatre, refers to a measure of linguistic rhythm and to the physical appendages. In both cases, the word suggests the power to take us on journeys.

The Sacred Fools company jumps wholeheartedly into Duffy’s quirky world--where a young boy (Corey Klemow) can speak only in iambic pentameter, a man (Victor Isaac) sprouts grass on his head, a self-proclaimed boy cow (Casey Smith) talks, and children in the class of an overbearing Sunday school teacher (Linda Miller) get punished for speaking about God.

A businessman (John Prince) brings these people together when he begins spending weekends in the country. There he pressures his cow to give milk. The cow’s best friend, a chipmunk (Mauri Bernstein), almost tells the man that male bovines aren’t for milking but they do make great burgers. There’s no mention of “mad cow” disease, but there is one mad and desperate cow searching for milk.

The boys in the class vie for the businessman’s daughter, Susannah (Tabatha Hall), who glides on roller skates while sniffling as a result of hay fever.

Director Jessie Marion deftly defines this topsy-turvy world with Shannon Quaschnick and John Douglas Williams’ simple set and backdrop curtains. Items such as trees and rocks are labeled as in a first-grade classroom.

The chemistry between Smith’s cow and Bernstein’s chipmunk makes for great comedy. Standouts among the actors portraying the squirmy children are Ashley West Leonard as a sexually precocious 10-year-old, Tom Chalmers as the overeager Petey, and Dean Jacobson as a boy who sports his backpack on his head and shoulders to imagine himself a bush hog.

Duffy’s trifle seems to be about labels, with delirious references to “The Lion King” (a man with a grass crew cut and a boy pretending to be a hog). But while we have fun getting where we’re going, we’re not sure why he took us there.

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* “Feet,” Sacred Fools Theatre, 660 N. Heliotrope Drive, L.A. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends April 14. $15. (310) 281-8337. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.