Review of Happenstance Theater's 'Look Out Below!' at Round House

Ring tones. The iTunes store. The clunky contours of audiobooks. Modern sound technology can seem resolutely unpoetic. So it's a relief to plunge into "Look Out Below!," Happenstance Theater's mime- and clown-inflected fantasia on an early episode in the history of sound recording.

Visually striking and whimsical without being precious, this hour-long family-friendly show -- at Round House Theatre Bethesda through Dec. 20 -- blends physical comedy and cosmopolitan allusions with an entrancing lyricism.

The appealingly enigmatic story line concerns Pierrot (Mark Jaster), who's traveling to Paris to make a vocal recording in the late 19th century. He meets Augustine (Sabrina Mandell), an artless but optimistic hot-air balloonist, and together the two alight upon the Eiffel Tower, the Moulin Rouge and other must-sees in the City of Light. Crossing the duo's path is Max Calliope (the talented Karen Hansen, in a marching band outfit and spats), a musician who plays the banjo, trumpet, tin whistle, accordion, Celtic harp and other instruments.

According to a note in the playbill, the production riffs on Edouard-Léon Scott de Martinville's experiments with the phonautograph, a machine devised to register sound visually. In 2008, researchers figured out how to play back a track he had laid down in 1860 (before Edison's breakthrough with the phonograph). The recording turned out to be a rendition of the French song "Au Clair de la Lune" -- which, of course, mentions a character named Pierrot.

Whatever. In "Look Out Below!," overarching narrative matters less than imagery and comic beats: Pierrot cycling around the stage on a penny-farthing; a silhouetted Max Calliope, shouldering a huge bass drum; Augustine, in her orange acrobat's outfit, buffoonishly trying -- and failing -- to get her pink balloon aloft from a perch on a stepladder. Set on a spacious stage against a color-saturated backdrop (Kris Thompson is lighting designer), the action often has the elegant stylization of a dance piece.

The spare aesthetic enhances the simple theatrical coups. A chain of paper dolls in Augustine's outstretched hands becomes a line of cancan dancers. A red pinwheel turns the stepladder into the Moulin Rouge. Prancing and stomping, Pierrot transforms into a circus horse, and gosh darn it if his movements don't look utterly equine. The stage presence and physical control of Jaster and Mandell -- Happenstance's co-artistic directors and the creators of several Capital Fringe successes, as well as "The Seven Ages of Mime," which Round House showcased in 2007 -- make even no-frills miming and double takes hugely watchable. (The show's low-key dialogue, mostly in English, includes a few lines in schoolbook French. The fact that Jaster trained with France's Etienne Decroux and Marcel Marceau, towering presences of modern mime, gives the Gallic theme added resonance.)

Some of the inanimate touches in "Look Out Below!" are pretty nifty, too. Old and young viewers will particularly relish the pseudo-phonautograph, whose mysterious dials, tubes and propeller look very steam-punk. The contraption may reference a little-known episode in the history of recording, but -- like the production as a whole -- it has the zany immediacy of Dr. Seuss.

Wren is a freelance writer.

Look Out Below!

Conceived and designed by Happenstance Theater. Acting and clown play coach, Ami Hattab; trapeze choreography, Mara Neimanis; costume consultation, Rosemary Pardee; costume construction, Rachel Schuldenfrei; sound machine, Niell DuVal/banished? productions; moon design, David Whitney. Suitable for any age. Through Dec. 20 at Round House Theatre Bethesda, 4545 East-West Hwy., Bethesda. Call 240-644-1100 or visit http://www.roundhousetheatre.org.