Brian Dang’s H*LLO K*TTY syndrome begins with the revelation that Hello Kitty is not a cat, but a little girl. Several individuals weigh in. “What do you mean she’s not a cat? or “Well of course, she’s not a cat!” Perhaps we can presume she’s female. Or at least presents. This information comes from an oracular television. She calls herself “HK” and connects with various friends: a detective, a housekeeper, a cowboy. They take exception to her odd attire, but she refuses to remove her enormous head. She insists she is not Hello Kitty, she is HK, the girl they all know and love. Each feels in one way or another, abandoned by her, but she obviously does care. They want to connect, but only on their terms.
What follows is a series of episodes; a different angle on the same quandaries. The same ideology. Undercut by an element of the ridiculous. Solemn but absurd. I cannot speak to Dang’s intentions but perhaps they were inspired by Samuel Beckett. In Waiting for Godot, Happy Days, Endgame, existentialist Beckett seems to address the same dilemma over and again. We wait for omens and evidence of divine intervention, as if we had no agency. The characters In H*LLO.. likewise are searching for answers, especially HK herself. In one scene HK asks the bumbling Stage Manager (God?) spiritual questions but his answers are vague, passive, equivocal.
First and foremost, H*LLO…addresses the question of gender identity, and how it plays out in the day to day world. At one point poor HK is thrown into the lair of serial killer, as you might throw a nun into a flophouse. We adopt the roles our culture imposes, but when crisis intervenes, these affectations break down. However unknowingly. Each character finds themselves switching to the archetypical garb of a different gender. The compulsively pie-baking homemaker becomes the noir detective, the cowboy becomes a housekeeper, the detective becomes the cowboy. I think.. It feels like kids playing make believe. HK is a normal little girl, trapped by the need to keep everybody happy. The sunshiny angel without a mouth.
The play raises the question repeatedly, is intimacy possible without authenticity? Our identity (such as it is) anchors us. But if we remove that, if we see one another without accouterments, then we lose some friends by practical application. In a pivotal scene, A guy and HK begin to spark romance. She is mutually compliant, but when she won’t shed her outer layer, things get ugly. She won’t let him sandbag. He’s not wrong, exactly. But it’s not his choice to make. And we don’t know many times she’s been wounded, when she took that risk.
Undermain has produced quite the spectacle. Dang has illustrated his insights in revved up, urgent permutations. The performers are possessed by a manic energy, a myriad of chaotic montage, a lollipop laced with narcotic. An earnest flash in pan. The various scenes, carefully, ritualistically composed, feel as if they’ve been channeled by TV, but keep colliding with the actual. The experience is exhilarating. And in the best sense: confounding.
Undermain Theatre presents: H*LLO K*TTY syndrome, playing from May 1st through the 25th, 2025. Undermain Theatre. 3200 Main Street Dallas, TX 75226. 214-747-5515. www.undermain.org