What do women want? Men have been trying to unravel the mystery of Mars and Venus for millennia. The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron? is playwright Robert Dubac’s own insight on the age-old question.
The one-man comedy, showing at the Society Hill Playhouse through March 17, tells the story of Bobby, a man whose fiancée has given him two weeks to figure out why she is mad at him.
As the show opens Bobby only has 90 more minutes to grasp the answer. Bobby pieces together memories of various events in his relationship with his fiancée while standing inside his own brain.
The set is divided in two, representing the logical “masculine” left half of the brain and the emotional “feminine” right side.
The left side is cluttered with old junk and beer bottles. Memories of the male chauvinists who have shaped Bobby’s understanding of women visit from this side. On the right side, there is only a blackboard, on which Bobby writes as he sorts out his thoughts. His “feminine” side also speaks to him during the show, pointing out when he is being a chauvinist himself.
The Male Intellect is stand up comedy at its best. The show could be called the antithesis of political correctness; while the title suggests 90 minutes of male bashing, The Male Intellect makes light of men and women with equal pleasure. The smaller setting of the Society Hill Playhouse brings the show up close to the audience, giving them front row seats to Bobby’s brain.
Miles Stroth does a fantastic job in the six roles he takes on. Besides Bobby, there are The Colonel, Jean-Michel, Fast Eddie, Old Mr. Linger, and Ronnie Cabrezzi. Mr. Linger, a 123-year-old man, is the best of the bunch. His philosophy on long life is a stroke of comedic genius. Stroth effortlessly switches between these roles, leaving the audience with no doubt as to where his problems stem from.
The Male Intellect gives a voice to many of the clichés and gripes about relationships that people deal with every day. Without preaching and with much profanity, the show delivers laughs about a subject that affects us all. Sarcastic, hilarious and well performed, The Male Intellect is a window into the mind of any man who has ever been confused by a woman, and is well worth the peek.
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