11-23-07
Good, But Heady, Adaptation of Moreau
I am disappointed with literary adaptation about 90 percent of the time. Rarely does a story intended for the page translate well to other mediums. Nonetheless, the attempts are made, to varying degrees of success, and Lifeline has to be one of the more successful organizations around.
The Island of Dr. Moreau both is and is not well suited for such a transfer. On the plus side, it focuses through the lens of an outsider—a unity of perspective that often suits itself well to stage translation. It’s not a particularly complicated story either, and Lifeline has got it down to a tidy 90 intermissionless minutes without risking incoherency. On the negative side, H.G. Wells’ story depends on the imagination of the reader to embody the beast men Moreau has created. On the stage, those creatures must appear in all their horror.
Adapter Robert Kauzlaric has given director Paul S. Holmquist and his cast a solid text with which to work. Prendick (Phil Timberlake) is thrown from the frying pan into the fire as he is rescued by the unsympathetic crew of a cargo ship before being foisted off on Moreau (a stern Nigel Patterson) when they deposit him and his menagerie on an unnamed island. Prendick quickly discovers Moreau’s secrets and his presence is the catalyst for the rebellion of the beast men Moreau has created.
Holmquist’s cast is generally up to Lifeline’s usual standards as well. Yosh Hayashi, as Moreau’s assistant, Montgomery, is a standout, and Sean Sullivan does well as the immense M’ling. The production’s great weakness is the appearance of the various beast-people. Costume and mask designer Kimberly Morris has accomplished much with a relatively limited budget. But by choosing a literal route for the different animal characters, Holmquist and Morris have reduced their impact on the audience. It’s no coincidence that the monstrous M’ling—an amalgam of several animals—has both the most effective and the least realistic appearance.
Still, this is a brisk and attentive telling of Wells’ story, and not everyone will be as pulled out by the animal characters as I was. Kauzlaric has authored one of the better adaptations I’ve seen at Lifeline, and while I can’t say I was completely enthralled with this production, there’s no doubt it was an entertaining hour-and-a-half.
The Island of Dr. Moreau, Lifeline
Chris Jones, Tribune—“Judging by the promotion tag line (‘His Is the House of Pain’), Lifeline has conceived Robert Kauzlaric’s adaptation as a kind of literary Halloween attraction. It certainly made me shiver. Overall, though, this is a piece with a very strange tone. Remarkably spectacular for such a small space, Paul S. Holmquist’s gutsy production (no pun intended) makes use of fabulous masks and costumes designed by Kimberly Morris… Still, this is probably too heady and talky a show for the slasher-loving crowd. Yet for much of Lifeline’s core audience, I suspect it will be rough going.”
Hedy Weiss, Sun-Times—“All these themes, plus enough ghoulish theatricality for a lifetime of Halloweens, are in play in the hugely ambitious, wildly physical, stunningly effective 90-minute stage version of Wells’ story that opened Monday at Lifeline Theatre. But look more closely at the production—adapted with wit and intelligence by Robert Kauzlaric and ingeniously directed by Paul S. Holmquist—and you quickly sense the intensely contemporary political subtext at work here, too. Britain was the superpower of the late 19th century, but the United States holds that title now, and our role on the global stage, particularly in ‘developing societies,’ is grist for this show’s mill, as are images from Abu Ghraib, the Iraqi prison.”
Justin Hayford, Reader—“Terror is fatally absent from Robert Kauzlaric’s breathless, noisy adaptation of H.G. Wells’ ‘scientific romance.’ Dr. Moreau practices Darwin-esque vivisection, ‘improving’ various beasts so that he might one day do the same to inferior humans; this production is most disturbing when he simply describes his Nazi vision of a perfected humanity. But too often the howling from actors dressed like oversize Ewoks reduces the level of sophistication to that of 10-year-old boys reenacting their favorite monster movie.”
Dennis Polkow, New City—“That said, and despite a cast that acts its heart out on both sides of the beast line, the real problem with this show is it has no specific interpretation of Wells’ intention, which granted is much easier to get across in print than on stage. The end result is a lot of impressively choreographed chaos on stage that loses any possible empathy on the audience’s part because it is so relentless and unfocused.”
Christopher Piatt, Time Out—“But the outsize Muppet-like costumes and Holmquist’s simple but relatively unimaginative staging don’t take us anywhere we’ve never been, which is key to the unique menace of Welles’s horrifying world. At least Holmquist gets a fine performance out Timberlake as the proper stranger in a strange land, a chewy performance out of Patterson as the lunatic Moreau, and a can’t-take-your-eyes-off-him performance from Hayashi as the doctor’s tipsy, probably pansexual assistant. They bring a grown-up dignity to the production, even if it’s probably kids who will dig it the most.”
Lawrence Bommer, Free Press—“What’s curiously endearing about this neo-Faustian tale of human presumption in co-opting and corrupting natural selection is not the portrait of social Darwinism gone apeshit. It’s the power of these human hybrids, oddly moving in Kimberly G. Morris’ marvelous masks and costumes, to touch us. Morphed into semi-humans, these botched apes, sheep, pumas, and bears are marvelous creations, whether as theater and literature, reason enough to see this enormously entertaining blast from the past.”
Venus Zarris, Gay Chicago—“Between the adaptation and the direction, the story becomes muddled and this proves to be a squandering of profound effort and talent. It is a ‘should have, could have, would have’ show, but still, I came away from the play transfixed by the captivating spectacle. The Island of Dr. Moreau provides more than enough dramatic delight to get lost in and proves well worth the viewing.”
Catey Sullivan, Windy City—“The Island of Dr. Moreau is a sprawling sci-fi horror story, launched with a violent storm, a ship dashed to splinters and a butterfly collector cast adrift somewhere between Peru and the rest of the world. It travels to the perilous cliffs and foreboding caves of the title island and across the seas to the London of Jack the Ripper and the Elephant Man. In all, it’s a multi-tentacled morass of a story: Adaptor Robert Kauzlaric deserves mighty credit for honing it to a vivid 90 minutes without compromising the narrative. Yet its very bloodthirstiness—without which Wells’ story would be gutted—makes Moreau difficult to take.”
Cabaret, Theo Ubique Theatre Company
Mary Shen Barnidge, Reader—“Kander and Ebb’s musical has been reconfigured for a mere dozen players and a stage no bigger than a Willkommen mat—which transforms the entire room into a Third Reich-era nightclub. Like the lovers torn apart by their troubled times, the Theo Ubique Theatre players seem divided at times, some overestimating and some underestimating the appropriate interpretive scale. But they’re eager to please, and the evening has an ironic sparkle that reflects our own society’s uneasiness.”
Dennis Polkow, New City—“If there’s a better way to experience the show Cabaret than actually experiencing it in a cabaret, I haven’t found it. The stars of the show are your actual table servers and these folks banter with you while never going out of character, flirting shamelessly with the clientele and with each other. When Jeremy Trager’s Conrad Veidt-looking emcee starts the show, it feels so wonderfully authentic, until you realize that the same characters who are taking such good care of you are also the Nazis in the show. It’s quite an effective and interactive way to relive an important era of German history and get a hell of a show at the same time.”
Christopher Piatt, Time Out—“With fresh, simple takes on iconic musical numbers and three principal performers who know how to calibrate their talents not just to the fabulously dank little No Exit Caf? but also to larger-than-life material that would otherwise defy the space, Anzevino has a production that’s more than just atmosphere. He has [Jeremy] Trager, who never overplays his natural diabolical pungency as the emcee; [Dana] Tretta, who steps forward as an actor while never showing off too much vocally as shallow coquette Sally Bowles; and [Danielle] Brothers, who might be Chicago’s Lotte Lenya, in the landlady role Lenya originally created.”
Tim Sauers, Gay Chicago—“Director Fred Anzevino of Theo Ubique has a hit on his hands with his robust staging of the John Kander (music) and Fred Ebb (lyrics) musical that has seen many stunning productions since its 1966 debut. He has done a terrific job transforming Rogers Park’s No Exit Caf? into the seedy, sleazy and intimate Berlin-based Kit Kat Klub, the setting for one of the greatest American musical constructs. He chooses to focus on the dark, stark theatrical qualifies of the show as reflected through the prism of the raunchy cabaret club presided over by the shadowy Master of Ceremonies (Jeremy Trager) and the emotionally needy lead English singer, Sally Bowles (Dana Tretta).”
Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, Hubris Productions
Valerie Jean Johnson, New City—“It’s truly the performances (right down to the spot-on drawls) that make this play one to see. Mary Hollis Inboden is especially winning as Mindy, the beauty-pageant-loving, lesbian sister of the groom; though the entire ensemble is strong, funny and captivating. Ball stumbles by introducing the character of Tripp—the only male we see onstage—whose brief appearance unfortunately sucks the energy right out of the room (despite the valiant efforts of actor Charles Riffenburg IV). A small (and forgivable) hiccup in this otherwise sassy and spirited production.”
Scott C. Morgan, Windy City—“Though not specifically a ‘gay play,’ Five Women… is a smart choice by Hubris Productions for its second show at Center on Halsted. Ball’s play is like a chick flick based upon chick lit, so it appeals to both straight and LGBT fans of the genre… Under the sturdy direction of Andy Sinclair, Hubris Productions delivers a well-performed and frequently moving show, even if the stop-and-start pacing between comedy and tragedy jars a tad. (The play’s structure is also at fault.) Also, some actors on opening didn’t convincingly get under the skins of their characters.”
Mr. Fluxus, The Neo-Futurists
Laura Molzahn, Reader—“Greg Allen’s imaginative show is even more interactive than the Neo-Futurists’ Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. Small groups are led through 13 spaces, each featuring different exhibits and/or performances. The experience is not unlike preschool: cockeyed ‘toys’ are everywhere, and you’re encouraged to participate. The piece is remarkable for its quietness—audience and performers become almost preverbal—yet you get to know your fellow travelers through the space. Overall there’s a unique sense of cooperation, discovery, and play.”
Megan Powell, Time Out—“Another Fluxus tenet, the ‘self-sufficiency of the audience,’ drives the flow of Mr. Fluxus, which essentially is a series of installations in the Neo-Futurarium that engages all of its participants’ senses through interaction with the ordinary and the extraordinary. Traveling in a small group, we watched some players literally attack a piano, made music, tasted some acutely sour candy, smelled chocolate-chip cookies, had the chance to picket, and planned a wedding, among other things. Ephemeral and simple, personal and communal, Mr. Fluxus is difficult to evaluate because, well, it only is what it is because you are there. One thing that’s safe to say: It’s worth the journey to discover that the ‘Mr.’ in Mr. Fluxus is you.”
Quote of the Fortnight:
“Alas, something’s wrong in Transylvania when the only thing in stitches is the creature’s face.”—Linda Winer reviewing the Broadway production of Young Frankenstein in Newsday.