Bambi, the lead character in Andy Shreeman's one-woman, multicharacter mindbender of a play, is not your typical hooker with an empire of gold. She treats us to video commercials of her instructional tapes, empowering other ladies of the night to attain self-esteem. She's even got a line of body-care products in what look suspiciously like kitchen spray-cleaner bottles, boasting names like "Post-Coital Crud Remover."
Shreeman cagily does not bring Bambi on in the, er, flesh, until we have met a panoply of other women, some of whom, we learn, work in Bambi's building and penthouse. There's Lizzie, the lisping, nunchuk-whirling girl who is seeing a shrink and proudly eschews going to school on Pol Pot's and other dictators' birthdays. She's followed by Alexis Breeze, working her way up the ladder in Bambi's corporeal corporate domain, who wants to make enough money to buy her own country, "right next to Marlon Brando's country." Daniella is a Russian woman whose servitude is greatly improved by working for Bambi, and Rosalina, Bambi's daughter, is gently admonished by her mother for having sex in the elevator of the building. Perhaps Shreeman's most touching character in this loopy parade is Shanti Goldstein, the yoga instructor who cannot control her impulse to berate her mother while telling her students to stretch and breathe.
Shreeman brings it all together in the second act by having Bambi interact with these women, via a four-way video surveillance screen, and the effect is ingenious and mesmerizing, culminating in Bambi's last presentation, which incorporates some very smooth improv work with the audience and can make us laugh one minute and pull us up short the next with admissions like, "We all have our rape stories." The writer/performer shows a flawless command of her characters and knows how to imbue them with a heady mix of pathos, pop porno psychology, and goofy élan. Director Emily Wilbur has smartly guided this gifted actor, and Simon Beckman's video work is extremely impressive here, as well.
Shreeman's ultimate respect for her characters takes us beyond what could have been a sordid little sojourn, taking us into the world of a loveable New Age porno mother hen and her baby chicks. Never has such a seamy title produced such a startlingly inventive vision that is ultimately cleansing—whether you purchase the Crud Remover or not.
"Bambi's Box Dot Com.," presented by and at the Other Space at the Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 4th St., Santa Monica. Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m. July 12-Aug. 18. $15-18. (310) 394-9779 x143.