A Naked Tour of the Literary Canon

Not long into a recent preview of “Garry Starr: Classic Penguins,” a one-act comedy now running off-Broadway at Studio Seaview, the eponymous star spotted a woman scribbling notes in the audience. He approached and asked her name, and if she was reviewing the show, and if in any case she wouldn’t mind joining him on stage for one of several participatory skits.The woman, if you haven’t guessed, was yours truly. I responded — graciously, I hope — that I would prefer to remain anonymous, and a passive observer. I hardly wanted to be a party pooper, but you see, Garry was naked from the waist down, and I didn’t know what my husband would think.Garry, who is actually the alter ego of Australian writer and performer Damien Warren-Smith, makes his entrance in “Classic Penguins” wearing only a black jacket, a top hat, a ruffled white collar, and orange flippers. Though the jacket doesn’t stay on for long, the outfit is obviously meant to suggest the titular sea bird, which happens to have as its namesake a prominent publishing company.If the Elizabethan collar isn’t a clue, “Classic Penguins,” which arrives in New York following successful runs at Sydney, Melbourne, Edinburgh Fringe, and on the West End, is ostensibly a play about literature: A bookcase prominent in the lean set is stocked when the show begins, and even as Mr. Warren-Smith proceeds to knock down its contents, covers of the publications — Penguin Classics, natch — are projected above the stage.The familiar titles become markers for the shenanigans that unfold, and suffice it to say you don’t need to be an expert on any of the showcased authors, who range from Shakespeare and Dante to George Orwell and Truman Capote, to understand the connections. Introducing “Frankenstein,” Mr. Warren-Smith asked, at the performance I attended, if a doctor or scientist were present; when no one came forward, he wondered if anyone “brought someone into this world” and, “on reflection,” regretted doing so.“Classic Penguins” trades heavily in this kind of clever goofiness, and in a confidence that audience members will prove more willing than I did to also make spectacles of themselves — alongside a man swinging his penis, at times literally. In a segment referencing “Holding the Man,” “Of Mice and Men,” and “Love in the Time of Cholera,” Mr. Warren-Smith, at the preview, enlisted two chaps to join him in a long embrace and slow-dance to James Blunt’s sappy 2005 hit “You’re Beautiful,” one of numerous pop and rock tunes featured here.A few women were also recruited; one wound up throwing grapes that would later be used in a rather more graphic bit. Another, lured by the promise of finding “buried treasure” — “Treasure Island” was the book in focus — wound up donning a pair of surgical gloves; I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. Mr. Warren-Smith even found a guy willing to match his extreme exhibitionism. A nod to “The Bodysurfers,” a short story collection by the star’s fellow Aussie Robert Drewe, became an opportunity for Mr. Warren-Smith, whose acrobatic skills are on display intermittently throughout the show, to get closer with dozens of viewers — myself included, as I happened to be sitting in the section where he required support.If you’re wincing or rolling your eyes, I did both, initially. But to Mr. Warren-Smith’s credit, he channels his inner clown with such breezy wit and benevolence that you may find “Garry Starr: Classic Penguins” charming in its unapologetic, sporadically inspired silliness — that is, so long as you don’t consider full frontal nudity a deal-breaker. Should that be the case, well, don’t say you weren’t warned.

A Naked Tour of the Literary Canon

A Naked Tour of the Literary Canon

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