Correctional Fluids

Bailiwick Theatre

Presented by Aethlos Productions

http://www.aethlos.com

 

Spencer Lord truly has led an intriguing and zany life.  If you have doubts, you certainly won’t after seeing Correctional Fluids.  In his one-man show at the Bailiwick, Mr. Lord lays out for all to see the broad arc of his 30+ years on earth.  From the start of the show, as Spencer walks out in handcuffs, we sense that something about this guy isn’t quite right.  And through his story over the next two acts, he proves this to us event by event. 

 

Early on we are shown a glimpse of the inner workings of Mr. Lord through his first job after high school, that of selling cleaning soap door to door.  After having doors slammed in his face at each consecutive home he visits, he comes up with a winning formula: by stretching the truth and using a bit of humor he can seemingly sell anything to anyone.  This becomes a theme of his life, as he goes from job to job and person to person, charming himself into interesting and powerful people’s lives, and all of the wonderful experiences that go along with his predicaments.

 

He relays to us a cornucopia of people he has encountered on his life’s journey, including such varied people as David Geffen, Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama (who he humorously informed us was “too giggly”).  And he goes to astounding places and shares some truly outrageous events, some that in themselves could make a documentary and/or appear on “World’s Funniest Videos”, including a messy encounter with the police while cruising in a Berlin park, working with Mother Theresa in India, and being arrested for drug possession and spending months in the Cook County Jail (or as Lord mockingly called it, the “Cook County Country Club”.)

 

As with any type of staged autobiography, though, no matter how crazy and engrossing a person’s life is, it’s the storyteller’s delivery that makes all the difference in the success of the show.  Mr. Lord’s delivery is a mixed bag. He is truly comedically gifted when portraying other people, easily changing from one quirky character to the next. He becomes most profound and moving when relaying a life-altering moment with Mother Theresa or reading a letter from his Baptist preacher father. But he often appears hyper, pacing back and forth on the stage.  He frequently messes up his lines.  Most troubling of all, though, he retells his story with a stifling veil of cynicism, a cynicism that at most times seems quite inauthentic.  Wouldn’t a person coming from a small town in Oklahoma be excited and ecstatic when coming to Chicago and meeting such amazing people?  Wouldn’t a man be brimming with fervor and pride when engaging in press junkets with big movie stars?  Did he not feel overwhelming gratitude for the gifts bestowed upon him and trips awarded him of those friends that found the endearing elements of Lord so appealing?

 

The story he tells at times is at times a bit inconsistent.  For instance, in the program notes, Lord says that he wrote the play during his stay in jail, yet in his live retelling of his life, he doesn’t write the play until after he’s out from prison.   Also, Spencer Lord tells us at the end of the production that he went from being a millionaire to having nothing, which is a shocker since there seems to be nothing in the two acts that leads us to believe he had millions of dollars let alone where or from whom the money came from. 

 

But even with these shortcomings, this is an astounding life story that is important to get out in the world: a triumph over many obstacles and setbacks; one that reminds us that, as he puts it, “it’s never too soon to give up”.  If Lord’s story is cleaned up and trimmed down (possibly to a one-act?), and if it is told in an unaffected manner, this story will truly be a sight to see and hear.

 

Rating: Not recommended (1 star)

 

 

Reviewed by Scotty Zacher

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