[NEohioPAL] Review of "Monster Play" at Cleveland Public Theatre/Theater Ninjas

[Bob Abelman]

CPT's 'Monster Play' is a bit of a monstrosity




Bob Abelman

 

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times,

The Morning Journal, Geauga Times Courier

Member, American Theatre Critics Association 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 10/21/11

 

Sometimes a very creative idea becomes significantly less so when given form and function.  

 

Such is the case with Monster Play, an evening of scary storytelling conceived by Jeremy Paul but delivered stillborn on Cleveland Public Theatre/Theater Ninja's Storefront Studio stage.

 

By intertwining two stories-one about a pious man tempted by demons and the other about a mythological hero who uses monsters to discover his own humanity-our greatest and most irrational fears about things that go bump in the night are resurrected for our consideration and, supposedly, our entertainment.  Guest appearances by a few bogeymen from medieval literature, contemporary horror films, Russian folklore, and ghost stories are thrown in for good measure and, occasionally, comic relief. 



Under Paul's own direction, his play is a clever attempt to bring to life horrific figments of our imagination by actively engaging our imagination.  

 

Rather than employing monster costuming, elaborate makeup or dry ice, the five performers in this world premiere production are armed only with baggy hoodies, an assortment of sound and lighting effects, and their theater training to channel the horror.  Much like the presentation of the Elephant Man in the play by the same title, the grotesqueness of the creatures in Monster Play is solely in the mind's eye of the beholder. 

 

The performers are wonderful.  Collectively and in isolation, Ray Caspio, Stuart Hoffman, Val Kozlenko, Jenni Messner and Lauren B. Smith slowly absorb and painstakingly adopt abominable physical abnormalities and quirky voices specific to their chosen ghoul or goblin.  Their immense athleticism is impressive and a pleasure to watch.

 

What they are presenting is less wonderful and significantly less pleasurable.  The 60-minute, one-act performance comes across as a compilation of pieces and parts that neither converge, flow, nor lead to anything in particular.  No foggy, surreal dreamscape is clearly established, if that was intended.  No clear message or moral surfaces, which is a traditional and expected outcome of scary storytelling from medieval literature, contemporary horror films and folklore.

 

The evening ends with a confusing confrontation between a man and a mysterious stranger with a jar full of pickled demon.  It is confusing because it is spoken entirely in Russian.  While fun and even fascinating to watch, there is no payoff save for the experience of watching this exchange unfold.  At $25 a ticket, this is not payoff enough.

 

The Monster Play playbill notes that this is a devised work, meaning that the play was created in the rehearsal process, rather than having been envisioned in advance as a script.  The end product reads like a cross between a theater exercise and a work-in-progress; something developed in a laboratory that is not yet ready to see the light of day or, in this case, lurk in the shadow of darkness.

 

Monster Play continues through October 29 at Cleveland Public Theatre's Storefront Studio, 6415 Detroit Avenue.  For tickets, which range from $10 to $25, call 216-631-2727 or visit www.cptonline.org.
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