`Defending the Caveman' laughs up the difference between the sexes

The question seemingly everyone asks Isaac Lamb is how he plays ``Defending the Caveman'' without making the protagonist look like a La-Z-Boy-bound, beer-swilling Neanderthal; you know, the way most American men are portrayed these days.

``Actually, the play makes fun of that stereotype. Men aren't that way and we all know it. But we have some characteristics that may seen baffling,'' Lamb said.

He will be performing ``Defending the Caveman'' at ACT Theatre beginning Wednesday. ACT doesn't have a close date for the play, probably because, left to its own devices, ``Defending the Caveman'' could run almost indefinitely. The play opened in San Francisco in June 1991 and became an instant hit. It went on to Broadway where it played for two and a half years. It has been playing somewhere all the time ever since; around 6,000 performances so far, by one count.

The reason for its success is that it makes sense, Lamb said. He has been performing the one-man show for eight months.

``It explains the differences between men in women in ways we understand,'' Lamb said. ``You can see the audience nodding while they laugh.''

``Defending the Caveman'' takes the premise that the differences between the sexes developed in Cro Magnon days. The men went out to hunt, the women stayed behind to gather seeds and berries, tend the children and the like. Both jobs were essential, but they required specialized approaches that didn't really correspond to each other. Hunters had to be goal-oriented, they had to concentrate on the task at hand to the exclusion of all else and, once the auroch they were hunting was in sight, it was time for action, not discussion. Assuming they brought down said auroch, and survived the process, they had to haul it back to camp by the most expeditious route. Again, speed and concentration were essential.

Women, on the other hand, had to browse for berries, patiently working in a group, finding what they could and adjusting to the situation as they went. They might, for example, find something other than berries, something worthwhile. Back at camp, they had to divide up their find, talking the whole business over as they did.

The mentality still exists. Something as simple as shopping can cause a rift between the genders, Lamb said. For example, when a man accompanies his wife to the shoe store, he assumes she will go straight there, find the shoe, try the shoe, buy the shoe and then go home by the most expeditious route.

Oh, how naive.

``It's no accident that shopping malls put their core retailers in the middle of the complex,'' Lamb said. ``That way, women have to walk by all the soap products and bric-a-brac, foraging as they go.''

The process became quite clear to Lamb when he accompanied his own wife on one such jaunt. As he looked over the shoe display, she wandered off to the nearby decorating store. She called over and asked him what he thought of some towel holders she had found.

``I like them fine, just not on your feet,'' he said.

Women also are habitual multi-taskers, which for men can turn something as simple as watching television into a trial. Women talk during the show. It breaks male concentration, the same concentration they needed to bring down that auroch way back when. But, of course, the Super Bowl is not an auroch.

Or is it?

``Think of it that way and men make more sense,'' Lamb said. ``It also will give you some laughs.''

`DEFENDING THE CAVEMAN'

* Opens Wednesday

* 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.

* ACT Theatre, 700 Union St.

* $35 to $39.50

* 206-292-7676

* http://www.acttheatre.com.