'In the Ages of the Earth'—One Hour Inside the Mind of Guy Jackson

From the adventures of a man who deliberately taunts geese to the eccentric tales of a timid hooker, Guy J. Jackson’s one-man show, "In The Ages Of The Earth," captures it all, as well as everything in between, at the Working Stage Theater in Hollywood.

Affectionately coined a “not-for-kids storytelling show,” each character receives a completely inimitable identity and each story is more detailed than the next. For one full hour, Jackson takes his adult audience members to the edge of their seats.

The dramatist himself sat down with Patch to explain the genesis of the play, his favorite part of the project, and how he thoroughly enjoyed creeping out his audience while making them laugh simultaneously.

Patch: What inspired "In The Ages of The Earth?"

Guy Jackson: I've been writing and performing original stories by themselves, in variety and open mic nights, for the past seven years, and been struggling to develop a show that was basically a tapestry, or stream, of stories. The difficulty was always that you have a problematic start-stop-start-stop-start-stop feel to a show that's a series of stories, but I eventually figured out a few ways around that, and so "In The Ages" is one of three shows I have developed so far.

Patch: Can you explain the concept of the show in your own words?

Jackson: My storytelling shows are meant to project a kind of cerebral tapestry that means more than the sum of its parts. This particular show is, of course, a head trip through everything that ever happened in the entire history of humankind.

Patch: What has the audience reaction been to the show so far?

Jackson: This show's great fun for late night, because it's speedy and creepy and haunting and farcical and trippy and riotous all at once, so I've been getting a huge response, as well as a lot of repeat viewers—people who just want to chill out and figure out the Chinese Box puzzle of it all. But there's no ultimate meaning or realization imposed by me. The show is really what people make of it. Plus, I aim for mind-blowing hilarity, too, so it's good fun to get the audience all nutty, and giggly and giddy.

Patch: What has been the most enjoyable part about this project?

Jackson: About midway through the first story, there's this click that happens when the audience falls into my little honey trap and then we're all going along together for this little ride, and it means one thing to me and a different thing to the audience, and it's really intimate in that way. For both me and the audience, it's like being in Europe and having a merry, drunken night with someone from another country whose language you don't always speak.

Patch: Tell us a little bit about your background as a writer/performer.

Jackson: I started writing and telling stories at open mics in San Francisco when I got bored with writing standard, magazine-ready short stories. And then I moved off to London for several years and consolidated my stuff down into fast and furious literature that's portable in context, and wound up performing at a lot of English festivals and poetry nights and on BBC radio and with one of the London orchestras and so on.

"The Ages Of The Earth" has been extended through May at the Working Stage Theater, Saturdays at 11.30 p.m. Tickets are available at the door and are $10.