New Look at a ‘Body’ of Work

The unmistakable punch of rediscovery accompanies the valedictory jabs and thrusts that Tim Miller delivers in “Body Blows,” his final Highways premiere before he and partner Alistair McCartney leave stateside at year’s end (due to the ongoing immigration issues recounted in Miller’s 1999 “Glory Box”).

In description, “Body Blows” sounds like retread, refracting excerpts from Miller’s same-titled published collection of solo works. In execution, however, it is easily this notorious gay performance icon’s most mature, elegant and purposefully self-circumspective work to date.

The seamlessly realized selections have been freshly retrofitted with new material, and the effect is mesmerizing. Merely the addition of Leonard Whiting footage to the wonderful “My Queer Body” account of a disastrous teenage date finds vintage Miller reinvigorated, and the new-minted “rainbow bridge” imagery of the finale is a masterstroke.

The trademark props and nudity are virtually absent, replaced by an exemplary restraint that affords Miller’s self-as-palette deeper emotional pull than ever before. This registers in audience reaction, the house falling raptly silent as often as it explodes with laughter.

And when Miller drops inward focus to establish direct contact, as in the indelible “Naked Breath” passage concerning a grisly Brooklyn carpentry mishap, his subtle communicative urgency is heart-stopping. Such genuine commitment to underlying larger meaning typifies the watershed nature of “Body Blows,” and distinguishes the still-evolving spiritual warrior who so beautifully inhabits it.

*

“Body Blows,” Highways Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. Friday-Saturday, 8:30 p.m. Ends Saturday. $15. (310) 315-1459. Running time: 70 minutes.