REM Doula LLC’s The Language of Dreams: A Crash Course at theSpace @ Surgeon’s Hall (Fleming Theatre) presents as a mash-up of many Fringe genres: personal storytelling, improv, musicals, kids’ shows, slideshow theatre, and wacky mentalist acts. While the show itself is a mash-up of narrative types, the final product is both intellectually stimulating and heartwarming.
The cabaret-like show starts outside in the queue, as the REM Doula hands willing participants pieces of paper and pens to write down a dream they want interpreted. These are collected and by the end, about three of them will be recreated as a skit and then discussed. While this might sound a bit like group therapy, the performance troupe, the REMniacs, are charming and witty so it feels more like an improv suggestion than psychoanalysis.
Much of the show is a narrative from George Oliva, the REM Doula, a former radio talent scout who met a neuroscientist named Charles Lambert McPhee, the former coordinator of the sleep research laboratory at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, MD (among other titles). McPhee initially became the host of a wildly popular talk radio show where he interpreted the symbols in callers’ dreams. Unfortunately, the neuroscientist developed ALS, but his passion for dream interpretation continues in this production.
The REM Doula and the REMniacs discuss basics of how to remember and interpret your dreams, which is part afterschool special and part slideshow lecture, but in the most fun and genuine way. The performers all occasionally dropped lines, and sometimes they stumbled over each other, but they never lost momentum or engagement. The group always feels cohesive.
Much of the discussion focuses on the most common, and most startling, dream symbols, like teeth or hair falling out, taking a surprise exam, or finding yourself naked in public. Partly because of this emphasis, I suspect the team is more prone to interpreting the audience-provided dreams negatively. In a sense, this is like a cold reading from a mentalist or medium. Spoiler: I happened to have my dream interpreted onstage that night. While it was great fun for me, I didn’t submit a recurring dream or a nightmare, but a really silly dream I happened to have the night before and which, for no real reason, stuck with me. There was some attempt to cold read me as hiding something, but the dream wasn’t really that deep. It was good fun to see it reenacted, though.
If you’re curious about your subconscious and musical acronyms help you learn, check out The Language of Dreams: A Crash Course at theSpace @ Surgeon’s Hall.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
