In the first of several video clips in The Dog and Pony Show, we see a pack of humans trotting through an agility course before their dogs will take the test as part of a canine competition. Among the mostly middle-aged women seen scurrying about in this rec hall in a small Michigan town is the lesbian performance artist Holly Hughes, who, thanks to Jesse Helms and friends, was better known as "the notorious lesbian performance artist."
But a doggie-dexterity contest seems far afield of the culture wars of the 1990s involving the National Endowment for the Arts. Hughes seems to confirm this in her first words to the audience at the Marsh. "The title is not a metaphor," she says of The Dog and Pony Show. "This is a show about dogs, period." That, of course, turns out to be a big fat lie.
Hughes, with her tri-tone hair and a thrift shop-inspired outfit, doesn't stay the course, just as her dog Ready goes off track at the Michigan dog show. Life with partner Esther and their nine dogs is a recurring topic, but it provides plenty of opportunities for social commentary on topics as diverse as sectional sofas, the underlying horror of The Wizard of Oz, and her compulsion to invoke the word "lesbian" as often as possible.
Hughes, despite the NEA Four controversy, is hardly a confrontational performer, as she amiably invites the audience into musings about life in her dog-centric world (Dan Hurlin is the director). She's smart, she's funny, and she's acutely observant of the ironies in her own life. Hughes knows where she's headed even when she goes off leash, and the audience is eager to heel through the show's 70-or-so minutes. And be sure to stick around for the post-curtain call video coda that will send you out of the theater dancing in the streets.
The Dog and Pony Show will run at the Marsh through Feb. 27. Tickets are $15-$50. Call (800) 838-3006 or go to www.themarsh.org.