'The Fugitive's Lesson' at Cesear's Forum Offers Loads of Absurdity and Laughs Settle in and embrace it By Christine Howey <https://www.clevescene.com/author/christine-howey> on Wed, Oct 11, 2023 at 7:02 am <https://posting.clevescene.com/cleveland/Contact/Page?oid=11090480> Some people are scared away from "absurdist" theater because it seems too odd and foreign for their tastes. But anyone who has lived through the past few years of political life in America should be well acquainted with the dynamics of absurdity. Hell, a U.S. President inspired a near-coup upon his own country, abetted by sirens of chaos: The esteemed attorneys Rudy G. and the Kraken woman. That's some fresh and steaming absurdity even Eugene Ionesco would appreciate, since it shows how, in an absurdist world, words lose their meaning, communication goes into the crapper, and logic loses out to irrationality. Now that you're all comfy with the idea of absurdist theater, consider The Fugitive's Lesson, a shuffling-together of two comedic absurdist plays now playing Cesear's Forum at Playhouse Square. Assembled and directed by Greg Cesear, founder of this small gem of a theater (and a man of dazzling and arcane talents), this show abounds in riches that I will attempt to explain. The two plays being shuffled are "The Lesson" by Ionesco and "The Fugitive" by Ugo Betti. Cesear cuts repeatedly from one story to the other as the respective actors stare and grumble while being eased off the stage by the other cast. It begins with a split scene from "The Fugitive" (no, not the Richard Kimble version) in which Daniele (Daniel Telford) is sharing a train seat with a mysterious man in black (no, not Johnny Cash). As Daniele chats with the man, who claims to be a Doctor (Joe Milan), Daniele reveals he has left his wife Nina. The Doctor is very understanding and keeps teasing out new information from him. Then a spotlight comes up on another tableau in which Nina (Leslie Andrews) is playing a card game with her boss Giulio (Gilgamesh Taggett). But there is tension in this "game" and Giulio begins to force himself on Nina until she fights him off. As it turns out, both Nina and Daniele are in flight from each other and from other, larger forces. Then we are whisked off to the other play, "The Lesson," where a Professor (Ron Newell) is instructing a Pupil (Tricia Bestic) on the intricacies of achieving the intellectual status of a PhD. His lessons begin with the simplest arithmetic problems (1+1) and then evolve into nonsensical translations and such. Eventually the Pupil develops a toothache that attacks her whole body and then, well, things get much worse. Hey, I said it was absurdist, right? But the pleasures come in the performances by the actors named above, along with a Maid/Corinna (Tina D. Stump) who weaves her way through both pieces as an oddly supportive but also threatening presence. As for the train passengers, Telford develops an interesting arc for Daniele's angst while it becomes clear that Milan has another nihilist agenda in mind. As for Nina and her supervisor, Andrews and Taggett display plenty of sexual tension and latent aggression with just a turn of a card. The most amusing pairing is in "The Lesson" as Bestic does her best Shirley MacLaine as the perky Pupil, eager to learn until she realizes it's all nonsense. And Newell manages to steal both shows as the Professor, losing himself in his own faux erudition but never misplacing his elfin delight in his dreadful secret plan which is only revealed at the end. But his Maid knows what he Prof is up to, and Stump blends a foreboding mein with a nurturing soul as she attends to his ghastly needs. She also appears in the other play, a cross-play connection that his echoed when Nina and the Pupil also share a tender final moment. The Fugitive's Lesson has plenty of laughs, once you relax into the format and let it carry you along. And it carries the heft you seek from an absurdist work. But unlike the real-life absurdist drama in the imminent 2024 Presidential election year, you can attend this remarkable show without putting your life and future at stake. The Fugitive's Lesson Through October 28 at Cesear's Forum, Kennedy's Down Under in Playhouse Square, 1501 Euclid Ave., cesearsforum.com<http://cesearsforum.com/>, 216-241-6000<tel:216-241-6000>. https://tickets.playhousesquare.org/online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::lo....