Aristophanes’ `Birds’ a Greek slapstick circus

Aristophanes is the kind of guy you wish were around these days. As civilization’s first comedic writer, just think what he could do with President Clinton’s dirty laundry. Or the filibustering of tobacco companies. Or confrontations between Microsoft and the Justice Department. Old Aristophanes would have a ball poking fun at all the political buffoons. Why, he’d knock Letterman and Leno right out of the ratings.

But a comedic writer is only as good as the performers for whom he writes. So Aristophanes, who died around 380 B.C., would have to hire London’s Aquila Theatre Company to present his follies. He would, no doubt, be pleased with the work Aquila is already doing from his repertoire, including his most famous work, “The Birds,” which the troupe performed Monday at the Maine Center for the Arts.

On Sunday, Aquila presented a prodigious version of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” and will head into Maine schools this week for educational outreach. But last night they let go, cut loose, let it all hang out in a production of “The Birds” that was part Three Stooges, part Vladimir and Estragon, part Ren and Stimpy.

The story follows the quests of two Athenians — in this translation, called Makedo and Goodhope — in search of a utopian city. They’ve grown discouraged and disgusted with political and social corruption, and so turn to the bird kingdom, led by the opulent Hoopoe, for a life of bliss. Makedo goes a step further in proposing that the birds put an embargo on the air between humans and gods, and by doing so recover their ancient sovereignty. After all, the chicken (i.e. birds) seems to have come before the egg (i.e. creation) — at least if you ask the question the right way.

Poetry, obscenity and slapstick make up the rest of the good time that Aquila had with this version written by Peter Meineck and directed by Robert Richmond (who usually performs with the troupe but now is in residence at a college in South Carolina). From the great pounding dance rhythms that opened this wild show through each little cluck and quack, this was a circus of entertainment for a smallish audience that came out for some Greek-style guffaws.

Aquila is the type of company that can stage a play such as “The Birds” and then have excessive mirth with innocent enough words such as “pecker” and “cock” and sayings about fowl feathered friends. The clever simplicity of the set design, which included a few pieces of furniture and long panels of billowy fabric, worked elegantly and engagingly. Although they were sometimes moving so quickly their words were unintelligible, the actors handled Aristophanes with sharpness and wit. They went a long way in keeping his spirit alive with a production filled with amusement, fantasy and serious criticism of man and his place in the universe.