The Denver theatre troupe reprises their comedy about stupid jobs and faux intellectualism

The Book Handlers, Buntport’s latest comedy, is a reprise of an audience favorite from 2018. As many Buntport shows do, The Book Handlers starts with a simple premise and then riffs on it from all different angles.

Here, we’re introduced to a group of four office workers whose job it is to distress hardcover books so that they appear to have been well read. The idea is that wealthy people will pay for such a service to have the volumes in their personal libraries look like something other than décor. Even compared to 2018, this somehow sounds less ridiculous today as we muddle through one of the dumbest eras of American history.

This one features an elaborate, multi-level set with a collection of tools for book handling which, while falling short of Rube Goldberg complexity, nonetheless confer a layer of faux seriousness to the enterprise. Books are moved around via baskets on strings, wheeled conveyor belts and slides and exposed to distressing agents such as water, coffee and spaghetti sauce (for which there are special gloves).

As the show kicks off, we’re gradually introduced to the crew and start to realize what they’re doing and why. Serving as the nominal boss is Erik Edborg as John — a deadly dry worker bee who repeats the same pat phrases and sports a tie, argyle vest and bowler hat. As the workdays begin, the rest file in, put on aprons and take turns staffing the various stations.

Hannah Duggan is Connie Diane, the newest member of the staff who’s learning the ropes and is absolutely titillated when she gets to scrawl her first bits of marginalia in some books. Erin Rollman is the batshit lifer who tries to offset her vinegary personality by hanging an endless series of paintings featuring the same potted plant. As Jard, Brian Colonna handles straight-man duties and is always ready with a fact-check from his encyclopedic mind. (He is, apparently, the only one who actually reads books — an activity the others recoil from in horror for unexplained reasons.)

‘The Book Handlers’ features one of Buntport’s more elaborate sets. | Photo: Buntport

Dumb jobs and metaphysics

Along with lampooning the stupid jobs many people do without a true understanding of why they’re doing them, The Book Handlers sends up intellectualism as the book handlers argue among one another about all manner of things. Homing in on the tiniest of details to discourse on their metaphysical nature is their chief subject, and tangents are their bread-and-butter. Offer Connie Diane a cup of Darjeeling and she’ll treat everyone to a diatribe about colonialism. Often, they interrupt themselves for sidebar “notes” to offer more information or context to their rant. These are illustrated by a light change where only the audience can hear the speaker — although we find out later that everyone can hear them.

While the initial premise wears a bit thin as the show goes on, this quintessentially Buntportian outing has a lot to love. The set, props and costumes place us in a not-too-distant past where electric lights and water heaters exist but certainly not computers or cellphones. (Think Dickens meets Doc Brown.) Despite many years working together onstage, the Buntportians are still quite adept at establishing distinct, nutty characters. They’ve got strange opinions, peculiar affectations and mannerisms and prickly egos that constantly rub up against one another.

I saw the show on June 20 when our weekend heat wave was in full swing. Buntport’s space gets mighty hot on such days, and though they handed out fans, be prepared to endure some uncomfortable temps for summer shows in their warehouse black-box space. Fans of the Buntport experience will no doubt enjoy this restaging of The Book Handlers despite the weather, while newbies will have a treat in discovering this curious troupe for the first time.