Review: 'Robert Dubac's The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?' at Seven Angels

Waterbury, CT - Seven Angels Theater is opening their 27th Mainstage Season with a very clever and funny mix of theatre and stand up comedy entitled ‘The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?’ The question mark was added by the show’s author and solo performer Robert Dubac. The ninety minutes performed without intermission are filled with laughs, smiles of understanding and even a bit of insight into the answer to the eternal question of “What do women want?”

The author/actor opens the show as Bobby, a confused guy who has been dumped by the girl of his dreams. His goal is to understand why this happened before the performance ends so he channels some questionable advice from five chauvinistic alter egos. While the advice is misguided, the five characters into which Mr. Dubac transforms are what makes this a piece of theatre and not simply stand up with props.

The retired colonel is all about being honest with women, and advises that men should admit they are boneheads at the onset so they always have an out. Jean-Michel lobbies for communication and makes his double-talk sound acceptable with a sultry French accent. Fast Eddie speaks up for passion at breakneck speed in the passing lane. At 123 years of age, Old Mr. Linger is the spokesman for a sense of humor but believes the answer is to stay single. Ronnie Cabrezzi is the final character and his answer is that all women want some sensitivity; he is a proponent of sharing secrets. All of the guys have cheeky bios in the program.

In the end, Bobby dismisses all the advice of every one of these strongly drawn characters and uses his feminine side to discover the answer for himself, all while drinking a beer.

This one-man show has been translated into dozens of languages and performed around the world. This universality of it speaks to both men and women who have been in a relationship, and out of one, and back in one. Mr. Dubac possesses a strong wit and a penchant for quick satire; his strong character acting is employed throughout with just a bit of improvisation. The biggest laughs involved one lady seated in the front row whose name was woven into the remainder of the performance. There was definitely some bad language and adult humor that didn’t really offend me, and none of the seniors in the matinee audience left early. He checked.

During the post show talk back, Mr. Dubac joked that “I wrote this show, but my wife explained it to me.” In fact, his wife is the actress Lauren Sinclair and can be heard as the offstage feminine voice that represents the right side of Bobby’s brain. Mr. Dubac is also the author of two other solo shows entitled ‘The Book of Moron’ and ‘Sex, Politics and Other Headaches.” He is currently finishing a fourth one called ‘Stand Up Jesus’ and has two new audio CDs out.

The location is listed as being “stuck between past memories and present turmoil inside Bobby’s brain; the set design captured that well with the right side and left side represented in shades of gray. Stephanie Gordner is credited as production manager, props master, and master electrician, with Matt Martin in his usual place as sound engineer. Katrina Paul was technical director of the production.

In the words of the actor/author, “It was something.” I definitely laughed a lot, as did most of the people around me. 7A artistic director Semina De Laurentis is walking easily once again and during her welcome speech she asked the audience filled with season subscribers to tell 100 people...every day...about this show that runs through Oct. 15, 2017. Social media to help: maleintellect.com and robertdubak.com

Speaking of social media, Mr. Dubac posted this on his Facebook page: "All Waterbury CT teenagers! Want some free tix? Send me a message here to be my guest at 7 Angels Theater for THE MALE INTELLECT: AN OXYMORON? now thru Oct 15th. You'll learn more about the opposite sex in this show than anywhere else - including the internet."

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theatre reviews since 2012 as a way to support local theatre venues and she posts reviews of well over 100 productions each year. In 2016, she became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle. She continues to contribute theatre news, previews, and audition notices to local Patch sites. Reviews of all levels of theatrical productions are posted on Naugatuck Patch and the Patch sites closest to the venue. Follow the reviewer on her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and Connecticut Theater Previews and on Twitter @nancysjanis417