Last Chance

“Heart of a Dog”: In the 1925 novella by Mikhail Bulgakov, human glands are implanted into a dog, transforming it into a skulking, violent beast. In a presentation at the Lillian Theatre, the story is as funny as it is provocative. At its heart is a canine so eager and feisty that you want to scratch its ears. Dressed in tattered trousers and wearing a snout atop his head, Joe Fria is first observed nosing around Moscow’s streets. The mutt thinks it’s in paradise after a professor (Paul Dillon) invites it home. After the operation, it’s downright frightening. The image leaves us to wonder what’s more dangerous: empowerment or domestication.

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Ends Sunday at the Lillian Theatre, 1076 N. Lillian Way, L.A. (323) 960-5563.