Veteran Chicago comic Will Clinger’s promising new one man show–Dr. Harlon’s Key to Better Living, now in an entertaining world premiere at the Royal George Theatre, is a clever, funny spoof of those late night TV self-help guru/infomercial celebrity Dr. Harlon Stewar
With whimsical staging by director Richard Cotovsky and a cast of players sporting mostly authentic middle class contemporary British accents, How to Disappear Completely and Never be Found unfolds as a searing indictment of the foibles of modern society so filled with dehumanizing rituals, long working hours and electronic devices that render personal communication obsolete.
This script reaches a bit towards the comic sense of Orwell’s “1984” Orwell called Serious sport ,war without the shooting as it is filled with hate ( we hate the other team) jealousy ( how did they get him to play that well?), bragging ( just think of the Sox World Series several years ago and the taunting those fans gave our Cub fans) and the pleasure of beating the snot out of the other guys.
The current production, “Cuba and His Teddy Bear” written by the late Reinaldo Povod takes us to the lower East Side of Manhattan, to a tenement apartment shared by Cuba ( a powerful performance by Madrid St. Angelo, who has truly matured as an actor) and his teen age son Teddy ( Christian Kain Blackburn) Cuba is a drug dealer.
As presented at The Batey Urbano Theater, Cuba and His Teddy Bear is an explosive worked peopled with unsavory low-life urban drug dealers and junkies. We meet Cuba (Madrid St. Angelo) the intense father trying too hard to be a mentor/friend and father to his gentle, sensitive artistic teenage son, Teddy (Christian Blackburn).
Christine narrates with the fervor of as aspiring writer throwing in tidbits of writing technique as she humorously channels her obsession with Ingrid. Christine’s determination motivates Ingrid in unique ways that seem to unclog Ingrid’s writing block
The sisters learn through various trials and tribulations that love and acceptance within the family is superior to material wealth. And that helping others is virtue. We witness little squabbles and tragedies that could easily destroy a family make the March clan stronger as they persevere in a blindly optemistic belief that ‘things will workout just fine.’
Aside from the people on stage, Gossamer required the input and collaboration of a whole team of designers. Most strikingly, the puppets, designed by Cynthia Von Orthal, not only managed to turn a human actor into a very believable dog but also somehow gave the terrible mystery of the Sinisteeds a more concrete, yet no less terrifying, presence.
Billy’s procrastinating about studying for his Bar Mitzvah and his nagging, at times mean mother Essie (Rengin Altay) mixes large doses of threats and Jewish mother’s guilt at her son. Billy fights her all the way.
Set in Paris in 1923 on an exquisite set (designed by Keith Pitts), we enter the bohemian life of international star Isadora Duncan (Jennifer Engstrom in a emotional wrenching performance). We see her lavish lifestyle complete with extensive sexual activity with her drunken Russian poet husband, Sergei Esenin