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by Chris Gibbs and T. J. Dawe, directed by T. J. Dawe

Chris Gibbs, Diesel Playhouse, Toronto

May 16-26, 2007

“Stop thinking and start living!”  That is the motto of The Power of Ignorance, an hysterically funny spoof of self-help seminars and the self-appointed gurus who lead them.  Anyone who saw Chris Gibbs last year in Antoine Feval at the Fringe Festival or in its run at the Diesel Playhouse will know what an inspired comedian he is with a sense of timing so perfect he can get a laugh with the simplest pause or gesture.  The occasion for this revival of The Power of Ignorance (2003) is the recent publication of a spin-off pseudo-self-help book of the same title promising “183 pages of mostly new material!”

 

The leader of the seminar and author of the book is Vaguen (Gibbs), Master of Ignorance.  While in a mental institution, Vaguen was adopted by a group known as the Ignorati, who taught him how to harness the power of unknowing and sent him to spread ignorance throughout the world.  We know that a little knowledge is a bad thing.  We know that what you don’t know can’t hurt you.  Building on such accepted commonplaces, Vaguen gradually reveals to the audience how we can overcome fears and obvious impediments to success simply by ignoring them.    

 

At 90 minutes it might seem that authors Gibbs and T. J. Dawe have stretched a single-minded theme rather thin, but they have, in fact, cleverly woven Vaguen’s background story into lessons he teaches.  As Vaguen’s seminar progresses he draws increasingly on peculiarly nasty episodes from his childhood which he naively assumes the audience has also experienced.  It soon becomes clear why the young Vaguen should have been drawn to a form of self-help based on tuning out reality.

 

Gibbs gives a marvellous performance full of irony.  He exudes an air of artificial suavity that does not fully mask the insecurity underneath.  Bit by bit he shows how Vaguen’s mispronunciations, malapropisms and unpleasant memories eat away at his façade until we eventually glimpse the quivering milquetoast Vaguen would be without his self-induced ignorance.  Gibbs’s surprising acrobatics and the literally smashing finale will convince anyone that The Power of Ignorance is bliss.                

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2007-05-22.

Photo: Chris Gibbs. ©Mark Jackson and Kurt Firla.