Annie Hoeg and Queen-Tiye Akamefula Photo by Maria Baranova

The above quote isn't a line from Eric Marlin's absurdist revelry exploring the evolution of dramatic art into camp, What A World! What A World!, but is rather a script note from the playwright on keeping track of the additional roles played by the two main characters monikered Not Charlotte and Not Keith, both described as "any gender or race or ethnicity or age."

Fulfilling those requirements are, respectively, in director Ilana Khanin's enjoyably playful production, the energetic Annie Hoeg and the more cerebral Queen-Tiye Akamefula, who both dive into the material with admirable commitment.

A post-performance perusal of the press script provided to reviewers helped clarify the author's narrative. On the outset, the pair portray a drag king and a drag queen rehearsing a performance based on a fictional 1943 melodrama film, The Pearl of My Oyster, wherein a "plucky young socialite, Charlotte Talversen, falls in love with fisherman Keith Butch."

Dressed at first in casual contemporary garb by costume designer Megan Rutherford Murray, the two perform synchronized movements on a primarily bare stage as they deconstruct elements of the mid-twentieth century screenplay.

"This isn't love. This is erotics. Keep up," demands Not Charlotte.

Eventually, they'll evolve into "a queer couple watching the movie" and "a queer couple watching a recording of the drag performance."

A continual theme is the significance of camp and drag as queer-specific art forms. While Not Charlotte regards them as "our legacy... of dirty dykes and sleazy faggots pitching micro revolutions on tiny stages," Not Keith skeptically ponders, "When did we let drag become the pinnacle of queer art?"

Two more actors, uncredited in the program and not mentioned in the press material, appear late in the play, primarily to take care of some set enhancement, though one of them buoyantly leads a bit of light audience participation.

When a toy dinosaur scurries across the stage, Not Charlotte asks, "Do you think it means anything?"

It seems a bit of an inside joke poking fun at the play's genre when Not Keith answers, "Probably something about God."

Like many of live theatre's surrealist offerings, there comes a time when wise attendees will abandon efforts to make sense of the matter and take in the words and visuals as an abstract enjoyment. But unlike some of the most famous of such plays (cough cough Waiting For Godot cough cough), What A World! What A World! clocks in at a pleasurably brisk 65 minutes, sending satisfied audiences members off to grab a slice of pizza well before thoughts of Theatre of Cruelty start coming to mind.