[NEohioPAL] Review of "Spirits to Enforce" at Cleveland Public Theatre

[Bob Abelman via NEohioPAL]

CPT's 'Spirits to Enforce' offers a tale that would cure deafness

 

Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the CJN on 10/24/14

 

Great Lakes Theater has earned a reputation for taking works from Shakespeare's canon and infusing them with a modern-day sensibility by transporting them to a different time and place.  Playwright Mickle Maher has done just that with "The Tempest," but he has significantly upped the ante.  The result is the marvelously inventive and hilarious "Spirits to Enforce," receiving its regional premiere at Cleveland Public Theatre.  

 

The play picks up where "The Tempest" ends.  Left behind on the remote island where they once served Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, Ariel the sprite and Caliban the monster have been waging a centuries-long battle between good and evil.  Over time, Ariel and 11 other spirits and faeries have moved to a major metropolis, assumed the role of Marvel comic-esque superheroes with names that reflect their rather ridiculous powers - such as "Memory Lass," "The Snow Heavy Branch," and "The Intoxicator" - and do battle with Caliban, now called "Professor Cannibal."

 

Taking a break from crime fighting, the heroes have decided to stage a production of "The Tempest."  As lights come up on "Spirits to Enforce," our heroes in their secret identities are holding a telethon to raise funds for their show.  The entire production finds them with phone in hand and, because none of them possess the superpower of persuasion, they have their hearts on their sleeves. 

 

What ensues is an absolute delight, as "The Tempest's" narrative and dialogue run parallel with and frequently intersects this play.  In-jokes, like everything else in this fast-paced, brilliantly executed production, run rampant.    

 

Director Matthew Wright perfectly orchestrates the constantly overlapping one-sided phone conversations that fill this one-act play, and there is never an uneventful moment.  On the contrary, it is nearly impossible to keep pace with all that is happening on stage.  

 

For more of this review, go to: http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/features/article_d0194b62-593d-11e4-874b-0b32496f50c5.html
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