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ENOUGH ABOUT BAGHDAD -- LET'S TALK ABOUT ME.


Byline: Katherine Karlin Correspondent

Ever hear the joke about the narcissist who interrupts himself, saying, ``But enough about me. Let's talk about how great you think I am.''?

That's basically the modus operandi modus operandi (mode-us ah-purr-and-ee or ah-purr-and-eye) n. from Latin, a criminal investigation term for "way of operating," which may prove the accused has a pattern of repeating the same criminal acts using the same method. Examples: a repeat offender always wore a blue ski mask and used a sawed-off shotgun, climbed up trellises to burglarize, pretended to be a telephone repairman to gain entrance, or set up phony companies to disguise a fraudulent scheme. for hip-hop artist and journalist Jerry Quickley, whose ``Live From the Front'' is one of four monologues that make up the Center Theatre Group's ``Solomania!'' at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

``Live From the Front'' documents Quickley's brief journey to Iraq immediately before and during the 2003 bombing.

Quickley's quest, he says, is to capture Iraqi voices, to tell the stories of everyday people. But the only voice you'll hear is Quickley's. He spends a long time complaining about his wait in Jordan for an Iraqi visa, mimicking the strangers who try to help him. When he does reach Baghdad, he brags that his slovenliness so offends the well-groomed citizens that barbers offer him free haircuts (he declines, preferring to cause a stir).

Quickley shrugs that the voices he wants to record can't be women's, because they are inaccessible (apparently he confuses secular pre-war Iraq, where women were visible in professional and public life, with more paternalistic Muslim regimes). When he finally re-enacts an interview with a student, the subject merely asks, ``Why are you here, Jerry?'' cueing Quickley for a self-aggrandizing soliloquy soliloquy, the speech by a character in a literary composition, usually a play, delivered while the speaker is either alone addressing the audience directly or the other actors are silent. It is most commonly used to reveal the innermost concerns or thoughts of the speaker, thus pointing up the drama of internal conflict, as in Richard III's opening speech, "Now is the winter of our discontent. about how important it is Iraqis get their say. We never hear from the student again.

The discomfort over Quickley's egocentrism turns to horror when we come to understand the extent of his recklessness with other people's lives while he pursues his excellent Iraqi adventure.

Certainly journalists take great risks to chase down a story. But the only story here is Quickley, and the risks are not his own.

In all fairness, Quickley's poetic language serves up some images that are hard to forget: the outline of a dead body that seeped into a linoleum linoleum (lĭnō`lēəm), resilient floor or wall covering made of burlap, canvas, or felt, surfaced with a composition of wood flour, oxidized linseed oil, gums or other ingredients, and coloring matter. An English rubber manufacturer, Frederick Walton, patented linoleum in 1863. floor, or a crazed dog running in circles during the bombing. Adam Phalen's sound design helps. But Quickley's anti-theatricality (he's seated throughout most of the play, and he often mumbles 1. mumble - Said when the correct response is too complicated to enunciate, or the speaker has not thought it out. Often prefaces a longer answer, or indicates a general reluctance to get into a long discussion. "Don't you think that we could improve LISP performance by using a hybrid reference-count transaction garbage collector, if the cache is big enough and there are some extra cache bits for the microcode to use?" "Well, mumble ... I'll have to think about it.) will make you wonder how this exercise in self-absorption made it to the stage.

LIVE FROM THE FRONT - One star

Where: The Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City.

When: In repertory through June 11.

Tickets: $20 to 40; call (213) 628-2772 or visit www.centertheatregroup.org.

In a nutshell: Hot air blows across Baghdad.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Daily News
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Copyright 2006, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:May 26, 2006
Words:396
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