There are somethings old and somethings new in Old Hats, with "old" and "new" taking on multiple meanings. Bill Irwin and David Shiner, who last roiled ACT's Geary Theatre 13 years ago in Fool Moon, are at it again in a vaudeville revue that stirs around both in autumn leaves and techno-wonders through sketches that reboot the pair's "greatest hits" and add some new reasons to merrily ride their tilt-a-whirl world.
Still a-whirl, this pair is, but their world is less anarchically athletic and acrobatic than it once was. Shiner remains the one with the sharper elbows, but the audience is relatively safer than before, and Irwin's battles against invisible hostile forces have become smaller skirmishes. The structure is that of traditional vaudeville �" title cards on an easel announce each new scene or song �" which gives further order to a disorderly domain.
The opening scene captures many of these facets, as the curtain rises on Irwin and Shiner in sad-sack garb frantically running in place as a video projection of an Indiana Jones-sized boulder barrels down on them. At first it seems traditional antics are meeting newer technologies, but there is a twist as the screen goes blank save one of those spinning wheels by which your computer is asking you to bear with it. The world we think we control always seems to have a trump card up its sleeve.
Although Irwin and Shiner had not performed together for more than a decade when Old Hats reunited them for an off-Broadway run last year, their well-honed rapport often manifesting itself as rivalry remains intact. As two commuters waiting on a train platform, they get into a wordless argument as they take turns poking each other in the chest. It's as if they're pushing elevator buttons as they alternately grow taller and shorter in a delicious bit of dexterous physical comedy. And their work as a second-tier magic act, Shiner as the cheesy prestidigitator and Irwin in drag as his mamboing assistant, is priceless.
They also get to work separately to mostly felicitous ends, though there are a few misfires. But not the sketch requiring technological precision that has Irwin fumbling to regain control of his iPad, as his head pops into its screen while the image on the screen pops into his head. Shiner's showcase scene dates back to his days with Cirque du Soleil, as he plays a manic silent-film director trying to teach, without words, chosen audience members how to play out a melodramatic saloon scene. Let us just say these volunteers don't get it right on the first take �" or the second or the third �" as Shiner mocks his actors' efforts at trying to mimic him. Funny stuff, at least if you get to watch from your seat.
In a break from tradition, Irwin and Shiner actually vocalize as they try to competitively woo singer Shaina Taub with flowers and riffs on The Wizard of Oz. Accompanied by a small band, Taub offers up a collection of her own quirky between-sketch songs with radiantly good cheer. Director Tina Landau helps sustain that cheer as she pulls the diverse pieces of Old Hats into a happy whole, and Irwin and Shiner take what one hopes isn't a final victory lap around such a bountiful partnership.
Old Hats will run at ACT's Geary Theater through Oct. 12. Tickets are $20-$120. Call 749-2228 or go to act-sf.org.