Let’s face it. No matter how much we may appreciate members of the opposite sex, men and women aren’t always on the same wavelength. Often, it seems like we need a guidebook to navigate each other’s psyches and a translator to fully glean the meaning of what’s said.

The Public Theatre is taking audiences on a road trip into the male mind in “The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?”

Don’t let the title fool you. This is not a men-bashing, female rant about male ineptitude. Rather, the guide for this laugh-filled trek is author/actor Robert Dubac.

Dubac’s one-man show centers around an onstage version of himself named Bobby. Bobby’s fiancee left him two weeks ago, leaving him desperate to figure out what women want, and how they differ from men.

Armed with a stack of humorously titled self-help relationship books, Bobby embarks on a journey into his own intellect. As he sorts through past memories, looking for answers, five chauvinist stereotypes chime in with advice.

Dubac morphs into the characters, changing his voice, attitude and mannerisms. As an added touch, even his handwriting changes with each character.

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The Public Theatre is hosting “The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?” for a three-performance run that ends Sunday. The 90-minute show kicked off Friday to a packed house. And, it was non-stop laughs from start to finish.

Dubac divided the stage into two parts, representing the male and female sides of his brain. On his left, the male side was cluttered. His right contained a lone flip eraser board. Dubac’s real-life wife, Lauren Sinclair, provided the disembodied voice of his female side.

On the board, Dubac diagrammed out the female XX and the male XY chromosomal makeup, explaining, “We only have one (X). We can only figure out half of what you saying, and that’s only if we’re listening.”

Of course, according to Dubac, men have the Y chromosome so they can ask, “Why”?

He managed to zing both men and women throughout the comic routine without alienating either. With a sly smile and wink, all was forgiven. In the end, it was hard to argue with the truth.

“No matter how I try not to be a chauvinist, my genetic pool leaks,” joked Dubac.

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The audience laughed as he ran though a series of words that have different meaning for men and women, such as frank, efficiency and accessory. “Same vocabulary, but different dictionary,” Dubac concluded.

His comic timing was impeccable, and the material tightly woven together.

“The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?” is unabashed fun. Anyone who has ever been in a relationship can identify with the male/female conundrum that the show revels in.

Need a good sidesplitting laugh? Dubac delivers them in spades. And, as an added bonus, he does an astounding trick with two cigarettes that really must be seen.

April Boyle is a freelance writer from Casco. She can be contacted at: aprilhboyle@yahoo.com.

 


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