[NEohioPAL] Review of "A Killing Game" at Cleveland Public Theatre

Bob Abelman r.abelman at adelphia.net
Thu Apr 17 07:08:41 PDT 2014


Fun and games take the stage at Cleveland Public Theatre  

 

Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the Cleveland Jewish News on 4/18/14

 

 

Do not turn off your cell phone.  Photography is permitted.  Talking and unwrapping candy during the performance is highly encouraged.

 

For the next few weeks, pre-recorded pre-show reminders of proper theater conduct have no place in the Cleveland Public Theatre's performance space, for proper theater conduct is turned on its ear in "A Killing Game."  

 

Also turned on its ear is the distinction between performed and participatory theater and the separation of actors and audience.  

 

"A Killing Game" is a theatrical party game - a pseudo-staged, somewhat improvised murder mystery orchestrated by a talented and vested ensemble of character-specific performers who invite the audience to play along.

 

It is the board game Cranium without the board and Charades without the charade, where audience members participate in several rounds of role-playing and guess-making before being divided into competing color-coordinated teams for a final round of fun and games.  

 

During my evening of engagement, the game was played by a handful of hesitant contestants, a smattering of extraverts picking up the slack, some inner-children set free and running wild, and a few uninhibited inebriants keeping things interesting.  For immersive theater like this, the composition of the crowd has as much to do with the tone and temperament of the evening's festivities as the festivities themselves.  

 

Participants are encouraged to post their experiences on facebook, tweet or text messages to each other and members of the production staff, and access information being sent by a social media conductor.  All this is simultaneously engaging and distracting, and not nearly as much a part of the game-playing as advertised.

 

The "show," directed by Colin K. Bills, was created by dog and pony dc - a Washington DC-based devised theatre company - and first performed in 2012.  The current troupe of players consists of  Max Freedman (Mr. Blue), Yasmin Tuazon (Miss Pink), Wyckham Avery (Miss Green), Karen Lange (Miss Orange), company co-founder Rachel Grossman (Miss Purple), Jon Reynolds (Mr. Chrome) and Adelaide Waldrop (Our Friend in Black).  All are immediately appealing and likable people who encourage participation but do not demand it.  

 

For 85 minutes without intermission, they keep things moving at breakneck speed and are efficient at clandestinely controlling the variability that can surface when the paying public is given permission to play.  Random acts of art are as likely to rise as moments of inanity.  

 

In short, "A Killing Game" is good fun for those willing to have it and less amusing for those who come just to watch.  

 

WHAT:            "A Killing Game"

WHERE:        Cleveland Public Theatre, 6415 Detroit Avenue, Gordon Square 

WHEN:           Through Saturday, April 26

TICKETS:       $12 - $28.  Call 216-631-2727 x501, or visit www.cptonline.org.   
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