The Offending Gesture

Do you ever wonder how the world appears to your dog? Well, you have a chance to see the world of international politics through a dog’s eyes in The Offending Gesture. The story makes very little sense and feels very raw. It appears to be a collection of loose historical anecdotes, philosophical thoughts and musical numbers. But you don’t think too hard about it because the beauty of the show mesmerizes you.

First we meet Jackie, the dog of a Finnish citizen, Tor Borg, who taught his pet how to make a Nazi party salute on the “Heil Hitler” command. Pictures of Jackie doing the salute were presented to the fuhrer whose name is Nobel Wolf. The fact that the dog was raising his right paw up was found offending by Nobel Wolf’s advisors and later brought up on a meeting at the Finnish embassy. Meanwhile Nobel Wolf brings Jackie to teach his own German shepherd, Blondi, how to make the salute. Blondie struggles with the trick because her paw doesn’t go up high enough. But these long training sessions give her plenty of time to chat with Jackie, which causes the awakening of her self awareness and some major shifts in Germany’s international policy.

The plot itself left me disappointed. The text of the play seemed very naïve and undercooked with its rhetorical exclamations toward the end: “What is dog? What is human?” some lazy pseudo-philosophy of an art school freshman.  But somehow, the director Meghan Finn managed to walk us through it and leave a pleasant impression of the overall show.

A big chunk of the credit for success should go to the design of the show. Christopher and Justin Swader created a beautiful Kafkaesque set design consisting of three walls of see-through shelves from floor to sealing. This gave the stage a strong vertical dominance, reminding us of Nazi architecture. I whish there was more interaction between the set and the actors as there were only 2 or 3 moments when it happened. My friend even suspected that the set was build for some other play and just happened to fit this one.

My special appreciation goes to the costume designer, Emily Blumenauer. The futuristic jumpsuits for the vocalists were right on point but the wigs and accessories were somewhat overdone. The costume and styling of Nobel Wolf was impeccable with just the right balance between elegant, masculine and strong yet comical.

Layla Khoshnoudi was great as a Nobel Wolf. Borrowing her comedic side from Chaplin’s Hitler in The Great Dictator with exaggerated gestures and playful choreography, she managed to give the character some humane depth, which appeared when she was talking to her dog Blondi. The look also lends itself to the established tradition of comical representation of Hitler, which The Offending Gesture follows. The iconic Hitler mustache was brilliantly transformed into painted lips, extending nearly to the nose along the philtrum’s edges. The exaggerated movement is comical. Layla walks like she owns the stage yet looks especially awkward when she swings her upper body and it appears she is going to hit somebody with the decorative chains hanging down from her shoulder.        

In fact, the entire cast of The Offending gesture was great. Abby Rosebrock was cute and hilarious playing the part of Blondi. Kristine Haruna Lee was wonderful as Jackie, though at times it seemed like she was being too serious against the caricature-like ensemble.

The two actresses depicting dogs embraced two different aspects of the play and made it the base of their performance.  Blondie played the part of the comic relief with rounded shoulders, dropped jaw, and funny mispronunciations wrapped in a doll-like outfit.  Jackie came across as a brave and thoughtful creature, reflecting on the core values of life. Unfortunately the poor writing obscured the message of the play and maybe caused Jackie to seem out of place.

Finally I must pay tribute to the vocalists and musicians in The Offending Gesture. The singing was magical. The play wouldn’t lose much if it were made into a music video, as long as they kept the same design and cast. Some dialogue between the two dogs wouldn’t hurt either. And the scenes with Nobel Woolf and Blondie. And the interrogation scenes in the Finnish embassy. Maybe it could be a long music video.

Maybe I went too far by giving the text of the play so little credit. At the end of the day there are some fruitful finds and it makes this show worth seeing. Don’t feel uncomfortable if you don’t quite understand what’s happening and what Iraq has to do with it. Remember, you are looking at it through the eyes of a dog – enjoy it.