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"Take a good-looking guy with a razor-sharp wit, a clever idea and a stage full of props and it all adds up to "The Male Intellect (An Oxymoron)."

Robert Dubac and his five alter egos romp through the
gender gap, exploring the differences between men and women (multitudinous) and the communication problem between the sexes (limitless).

His delightful one-man show, a clever combination of theater and standup comedy, is built around once anguished evening with a guy who fiancée has left him, saying she "needs space," and will call him in two weeks.

Although Dubac admits he like to get drunk, can't shop, eats likes a pig, needs his space and hates her cat, he tried to figure out why she left.

He muses his brain even though it's "empty of what I need, and cluttered with s--t I don't need."

He turns to self-help books with titles like "I'm OK, You're OK," and "Five Thousand Years of Foreplay."

He calls on his quintet of outspoken alter egos. There's the Colonel, a glint-eyed, toothy, unapologetic male chauvinist who boasts that he's "got it all figured out." There's sexy Jean-Michel, who speaks in metaphors and claims the secret of his success with women is that he speaks French.

Fast Eddie, is his leather jacket and shades, is just what his name implies, a "love 'em and leave 'em" jerk who speeds through life and relationships. Old Mr. Linger, a confirmed bachelor who has spent his life waiting for the perfect woman, is eccentric, introspective, arthritic and teetering on the edges of senility, but he has a few insights.

Swaggering Ronnie Cabrezzi is all biceps and Brooklyn with his rolled-sleeve T-shirt and ever-present cigarette, but his tough talk is combined with his love for his equally tough, foul-mouthed girlfriend.

The alter egos appear and disappear through the evening as Dubac switches attire and attitude in lightning-quick moves masked by blackouts.

As he seeks balance, Dubac also maintains a schizophrenic dialogue with his feminine side, represented by a disembodied female voice. His feminine side is neat and tidy, warm and loving - and sensible.

Dubac's male side is as disorganized as his cluttered
guy-type environment that's trashed with girlie magazines, golf clubs, dart boards, beer and old pizza boxes.

Using chalk and a blackboard, he flips back and forth,
making lists of the things he thinks women want: honest, communication, passion, a sense of humor. But he can't find the real key.

Although much of his act can't be explored in a family
newspaper, Dubac's adventure through the mine field of male and female relationships is imaginative, hilarious and as refreshing as a tall, cold drink on a hot summer day."

- Sandra Dillard-Rosen

DENVER POST | June 28, 1996 | Review Index