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from chicago.citysearch.com - by Sasha Emmons You might want to stop for a cup of coffee on your way to English comedian Eddie Izzard's new one-man show "Circle." You'll have to be at your most alert to keep up with him. The second he struts onto the stage in his high-heeled boots, he unleashes a dizzying, stream-of-consciousness spew, starting with a theme but taking many improvised detours along the way. He's so fond of tangents (and tangents off tangents) that he often has to ask the audience to remind him what he was talking about in the first place. He performs comedy miracles on the innocent subjects that he stumbles upon, which leads one to wonder: with his off-the-cuff remarks so consistently hilarious, does Eddie Izzard only think funny thoughts? Although Izzard is a transvestite, for the Chicago opening, he wears no visible make-up, a decidedly manly goatee and a vaguely feminine ensemble of tight, black boot-cut trousers and a western-style shirt. He explains that he started dressing as a woman to escape being put into a box. Now, people give him a hard time when he's not wearing make-up, so he's decided to buck the status quo again. No matter‹his fondness for women's clothes seems as incidental as his spiky bleached hair or blue eyes. He doesn't do camp like you'd expect, preferring to concentrate on worldly topics like Margaret Thatcher (whom he calls "Hitler-lite"), colonialism, guns in America, mad cow disease and competitive patriotism. He provides running commentary on his performance throughout the show, often making a bit out of his own screw-up. He also employs a United Nations of dead-on accents, but his imitations never descend into mean-spiritedness, even when he's riffing on easy-target Americans. Izzard is at his best when acting out surreal scenarios; who else imagines Jesus Christ (for some reason going by the name of Kevin) preaching the word of God to a saloon full of dinosaurs, or Darth Vader tangling with the Death Star's dim cafeteria lady? "Circle" runs through March 26 at the Royal George Theatre before heading off to Philadelphia. The show is sold out, but a limited number of tickets may be available at the theater box office an hour before each show.
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