Wayward talk bogs down post-apocalyptic premiere
THEATER REVIEW /
MadLab Theatre does its best to find the energy in the premiere of "Kitezh," Jennifer Feather Youngblood's postapocalyptic morality play, but meandering talk replaces action for most of the play's 2 - hour length, testing the audience's patience.
The production is set in a vague future when most of middle America has turned into a desert.
A troupe of surprisingly upbeat carnies, led by the conflicted Maestra Elizabeth (Colleen Dunne), treks through the barren landscape hauling a wooden cart, looking for settlements eager to witness some juggling, dancing and fortune-telling.
They come upon a boy (Dallas Ray) tied to a wooden stake and allow him to join their company. Although his naive fundamentalist beliefs amuse or irritate most of the company, Elizabeth sees further potential in him.
Dream sequences
gradually reveal that Elizabeth has been given a task by nefarious capitalist Stanhope (Travis Horseman) back home in the big city, and she must decide whether or not to execute the plan.
Full details of her secret aren't revealed until late in the play.
The plan is so abstract and impractical, though, that it doesn't seem to represent a viable threat.
Under Amy Drake's direction, the carnies come across as lively and likable, although the male characters are relatively undeveloped, and all of the characters fall into stereotypes.
Dunne's Maestra is mature and thoughtful, even when addressing a long monologue to the wooden cart.
Anita McFarren is perky as young dancer Lily, and Kate Jones relaxed as a motherly fortune-teller.
Ray is affecting as the troubled Boy, although at times he seems less childlike than simple-minded.
The characters speak in an odd, sometimes-grating mix of Shakespearean English and folksy dialect, and they're given to telling one another stories: folk tales, Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales, summaries of the Bible.
For a play that relies so much on storytelling, however, this one has a limited story to tell. With no new characters introduced and no significant changes in the characters in the play, “Kitezh” depends on the revelation of an unremarkable secret to hold the audience's interest.
The lesson here: Even though language is important to theater, plot (or lack thereof) might be more crucial.