There are few things more absurd than a man discovering that his nose has left his face, taken on a life of its own and somehow become more socially important than he is. Yet
Marginalia manages to make Nikolai Gogol's
The Nose seem almost restrained. Pummel Squad's wildly inventive adaptation takes the story and throws it into a blender, transforming its inherent ridiculousness into something visually extravagant, manic, and unruly.
The production wastes little time establishing its unique rhythm. Tyler, a barber, spends the entirety of Fatboy Slim's "Right Here, Right Now" running in circles around the stage, completely committed and visibly present. When the music stops, he turns to the audience and speaks about the tension between his career as a hairdresser and his passion for art, clearly setting the tone for what is about to unfold.
