Jason goes to the Hypnodrome and has a Shocktoberfest!

Ah, I love the Thrillpeddlers, but I've been too busy to catch their Shocktoberfest show this year. I finally rectified that last night, and I can tell all my loyal SF area readers that you should go see it before it's too late. It plays this weekend and next, just a few shows left (and those final shows come with free posters!)

Anyway, it's a Grand Guignol stage show, meaning short bloody dramas and sex farces (or combinations of the two--my favorite!) The show opens with a translation/adaptation of a classic from the actual Théâtre du Grand-Guignol, "The Maker of Monsters". A Circus employs an doctor/artist to create interesting animals for their side show--like a dog that he's turned into a sea creature, or a spinning "Dervish Duck". The competition tries to steal him away, and bloody intrigue ensues.

This segued into a modern vignette, "Google: Fetish". 3 short scenes depicting popular fetishes, along with the number of results you get if you googled them. Go ahead and try googling "fart fetish", "ball-busting", or "forced feminization"--I dare you. I don't know if the fetishes are always the same, or if they change it up every night. I'll have to go back to see.

Then intermission, meaning time for another beer (oh yeah, I had a few before it started). Intermission also featured some fun with their player piano, including the oddly post-modern irony of a live woman sing "Material Girl" to a puppet. And then back to the show.

"The Colossus" is a bloody, gory tale of art and tragedy. An artist is commissioned to build a giant statue (including an excellent description of the lost wax casting technique). An accident causes the death of his daughter--his pride and joy (his wife, her mother died in childbirth). He becomes sullen, despondent, destroys his wax statue and starts on a new, deadly project.

And finally, it all ended with "The Bloody Con", a bloody comedy about a group of deranged prison inmates who are forced to undergo medical experimentation. It all ends with lights out glow-in-the-dark thrills.

Awesome.