Maintaining a winking distance from his comic persona, Mr. Spade radiates a cunning show-business cynicism that lets you know he's aware that he's slumming to make a buck.
They're dishonest, double-dealing tricksters who invite our sympathy as victims of a merciless, unforgiving system while winning our grudging admiration for the pride and cunning they show in the artistry of their deceptions.
But we miss the big stores, because they defined a world, little duchies of commerce, with their faith in literal display: not the cunning and Duchampian show windows of a Simon Doonan but the things themselves shown as the things themselves, these shirts, these ties — the wooden escalators and crowded elevators, and the ghosts of elevator operators wearing small hats and announcing notions.
There are several brilliant moments that demonstrate this perfectly in this cunning one-man show exploring 2,500 years of oratory: the good, the bad and the downright ugly.
Orangutans spell, crows wield tools, parrots count and dolphins and chimpanzees show cunning if not outright deceit.In a similar vein, it was thought that mammals were distinct from all other creatures because they have that most evolutionarily advanced part of the brain, the neocortex.
The biggest difference is the level of cunning cynicism the show features.
Hone said he had shown "cunning and careful planning", lying to police and even making phone calls from prison to associates to make sure the helmet would not be found and get the teenage girl to lie in evidence.
There are some scenes that display impressive technical cunning, and others that show an astute regard for the emotional capacities of his able cast, but "On the Run" amounts to a sullen display of skill in a dubious cause.
