Hip chics go gaga in lunatic ‘Dirty Work’

The doughnuts were flying at Highways Performance Space on Thursday night.

So were cans of Tab, frayed vintage tutus and plenty of Postmodern spirit. Say hello to the Seattle-based 33 Fainting Spells, a trio of tricked-out hipster chicks: Dayna Hanson, Gaelen Hanson and Peggy Piacenza. The Los Angeles premiere of their collaboration “Dirty Work” combined dollops of Ingmar Bergman, Chekhov and the ‘60s TV-a-go-go show “Hullabaloo.”

For this 60-minute, intermission-less lunatic fugue, the gals also roped in the “I’m OK -- You’re OK” school of therapy, John Osborne’s kitchen sink dramas and a ballerina’s blistered feet. Who said performance art -- accentuated with twitchy moves, ranging from sleek and precise to slow and jazzy -- can’t be fun?

On a stage littered with old phonographs, scratchy records, a clothes rack full of thrift store chic and an Exercycle, our ladies of perpetual motion turn junk into a rapturous tableaux vivant. Making sense is not part of the picture, however.

Steely Dan, Bartok, “Ebb Tide” and Roger Whittaker singing “Both Sides Now” are a few of the ditties helping the girls go gaga. Gaelen Hanson’s barefoot balletic solo, set to Webern, looks as if Hitchcock were directing her in “Giselle.”

The bobbed-haired Dayna Hanson suggests Jean Seberg as, in between scat singing, she spews out a throaty monologue on aging.

It’s terrific fun, but I have one request: Please pass the crullers.

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‘33 Fainting Spells’

Where: Highways Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica

When: Today and Sunday, 8:30 p.m.

Price: $16

Contact: (310) 315-1459