Theatre review: Rambo Solo

You don’t have to be a fan of the Rambo movies or of Sylvester Stallone to enjoy Rambo Solo, but it certainly helps.

Rambo Solo is a one-man homage to Rambo: First Blood, the movie adaptation of the pulp novel starring Stallone. You never knew there was a novel version, did you? Neither did Zachary Oberzan’s character, until he fell in love with the movie as an eleven-year-old and subsequently discovered the paperback in his local grocery store. He promptly fell in love with it, beginning a life-long obsession with the story.

Oberzan describes the events of the book, as compared to the events and depictions in the movie, in an eerily accurate Stallone impression. Backing him are three separate movie screens, each showing a very slightly different filming of Oberzan relaying the same words and actions in his 220-square-foot Manhattan loft studio. Most of the charm in this piece derives from the dichotomy between live Oberzan and filmed Oberzan (times three); each movie version has him with slightly different facial hair, with slightly different movements, with slightly different timing; turning on a light, for example, might have a one-second delay across the three screens. To keep up with the various home movies, he takes his cues from an earpiece.

It’s a literal blow-by-blow retelling of the story, complete with many vacant pauses—the “uh”s and “um”s and “you know”s are some of the funniest moments, as you can almost see Oberzan’s fanatic fan brain whirring along at high speed, often getting ahead of his tongue. Only a true fanatic would find value in telling us the entire story of Rambo, and his fan love is evident and abundant. Overall, it’s whimsical, with several moments of unrestrained laughter. It does drag a bit between the laugh-out-loud sections. The best part came at the very end, with a fake movie trailer for Oberzan’s very real movie homage, entitled Flooding With Love for the Kid (taken from the last line of the book)—DVDs are available after the show for $10. In the film, he plays all the characters, complete with costumes and fake moustaches, and shoots the entire story again within the confines of his 220-square-foot studio—a sort of extended version of the one-man show. Only, you know, not a soliloquy.

Like most plays, it would be better if it were shorter. Brevity is the soul of wit, after all, and Oberzan’s doofy characterization begins to wear thin after the first hour. At this point, a shared enthusiasm for Rambo would come in handy. The seating is not the most comfortable, either—audience seating for this is on pillows, scattered across a thick shag rug (a few chairs are available if needed), so dress appropriately. But Peter Nigrini’s design and video are first-rate, as are co-directors Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper, and SoHo Rep’s familiar layout has been completely turned around in a very amusing way. Nature Theater of Oklahoma is one of New York’s hottest avant-garde troupes, and this is a one-of-a-kind show—and believe me, that phrase is hard to come by in New York theater.


Conceived and directed by Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper
Featuring Zachary Oberzan
Design and Video: Peter Nigrini
Running Time: 85 minutes with no intermission
SoHo Rep, 46 Walker Street; 212-352-3101
Tickets $25
Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 pm; no performance on Sunday, March 22
March 19 – April 12, 2009