With sincere ‘apologizations’ jem rolls: I, Idiot, Big word performance poetry

Created and performed by jem rolls

Playing at LIVE! on Elgin, 220 Elgin.

jem rolls is back and this time he’s talking about the brain. That’s right, his brain, your brain, everyone’s brains! Why? Because the body is a mystery and the biggest mystery about the body is the mind. Or, put another way, he’s reading that novel we all have in our heads, the title of which is I, Idiot.

This show is a clever, insightful, verbal barrage of sharp observations, some offered in rhyme, and yes, interpretive dance, that begins with the hilarious birthing of far too many clowns. That’s a clown-apocalypse for those of you who haven’t experienced the phenomenon.

A frenetic philosopher for our times, jem’s self-defined style is Verbal Buffoon. The performance is divided into titled sequences, most of which are delivered in a kind of free-association poetic storytelling text (Verbal Buffoonary?) that plays with words as fast as it invents them. One of which – apologization – is hilariously introduced and specifically designed for Canadians. Oh, and did I say there’s dancing. Really weird dancing.

All in all, jem is out to crack our Fabergé eggs of propriety, he’s “the army of moles on your croquet lawn of politeness.” Along the way, we meet real jem and idiot jem, and many more ‘gems’ besides.

This is a truly wonderful and entertaining show with a riveting intelligence at its core. But it’s also headed somewhere. “This show will solve the mystery of what caused the big bang?”

In a sequence titled Factonomey (or something like that), rolls introduces us to the theory of Hanlon’s razor: if something can be explained by both malice and stupidity, the true explanation is probably stupidity. An oddly comforting axiom. We’re getting it wrong, in most cases, but not because we hate each other, but because we don’t think things through.

Fringes were made for shows like I, Idiot and I, Idiot was made for the Fringe. You muse over jem’s pronouncements and strange juxtapositions long after the last of his personas ducks behind the curtain. Who other than this singularly talented and consummate performer with his signature punctuating and powerful delivery could embark on a rebranding of the human race!

People will ask you if you saw this show, so do see I, Idiot. It ends with a revelatory big bang. And it has great interpretive, but not postmodern, dance.

Buy your tickets now! And if you want a drink, arrive early.