Theater Review: 'Salome' at ZJU

As I walk into the smell of incense fills the air. Inside the theatre, Oscar Wilde fills the seats.

When it comes to saying the opposite of what you mean there is no better practitioner than Wilde and no better example than Salome.

As staged by Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group and Fabulous Monsters Performance Group, the play strips away the fat in capturing the meat and marrow of the moment.

In one hour, an empire is shaken to its knees, a prophet and princess are beheaded and the audience is treated to some of the most opulent and beautiful language in theatrical history.

is the story of the Princess of Judea and her love for the Prophet Jokanaan.  After promising her whatever she wants if she dances for him, King Herod has Salome beheaded because she demands and gets Jokanaan’s head.

The show is a missile. It flies through the air and explodes in our laps with humor, humanity, courage and imagination.

This is a collaboration that works in bringing Wilde down to earth. ZJU and Fabulous Monsters turn Salome into a visually plush extravaganza, an outrageous take on a classic gone terribly right.

Director Robert A. Prior brings us a play rich in substance and style. His instinctual and textured understanding of this play as tragedy and Wilde as a playwright take the story into uncharted territory.

Lita Penaherrera as Salome plays the lead role with passion, conviction and sensitivity. Her seven-veil dance is rhythmical and wonderfully seductive and sexual. Her final monologue, however, could use more layers and levels.

Tim Ottman and Sasha Ilford as King Herod and Queen Herodius work brilliantly together. They play off of each other like a pair of veteran actors. The two make a perfect royal couple, he in his comic timing, she in her sarcastic yet genuine love for her daughter Salome.

But it is Douglas Rory Milliron as Jokanaan, a prophet, who steals the play with his stage presence and intensity. Without him, Salome would have no foil, no antagonist, no reason to go on.

With him, this play builds in power and strength until it takes-off into the stratosphere with us in tow having been battered for 60 minutes with a cutting-edge aesthetic which is often provocative and deeply telling.

Later this Saturday night before Father’s Day I saw , the cult hit which plays every Saturday at 11 p.m..

This unimprovised improvisation has Zombie Joe written all over it. It must be seen to be believed.

Salome: Saturdays at 8:30 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m.

Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group

4850 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood

Tickets: $15

Reservations: (818) 202-4120

Urban Death

Tickets: $15