| STORYTELLERS
99, TinFish Productions. Just when
it seemed that Halloween had been reduced to bowls of peeled grapes masquerading
as eyeballs, "StoryTellers 99" reminds audiences what real terror is all
about. This evening, featuring dramatizations of five classic horror
stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, and others, isn't about
the bloodbaths common to "Jason Knows What You Did on Elm Street" serial
thrillers. This is the stuff of deeper nightmares - being left for
dead in a cold, dark cavern or becoming the prey of a "friend" with cruel
intentions. What's worse, these victims have all brought their horrific
suffering on themselves. It's a big Halloween karmafest.
These stories show some ugly but very real sides of human nature. Maybe that's why they hold up so well: they're not only timeless but easily make the transition |
from page to stage. Directors
Jason Llamas and Laurie Kladis deserve credit for their adaptations and
staging, as do the five actors, displaying significant range in their work.
The material is an actor's dream - brilliantly written, it demands intense
solo performances (like Johnny Kastl's monomaniacal monologuist in Telltale
Heart) and varied ensemble interaction. And in TinFish's minimalist
space, the actors do more than usual to create the settings, from underground
catacombs to warm English living rooms. That's not to slight the
technical staff, whose lighting and bad-weather sounds actually seem to
make the room grow colder. Altogether this is an entertaining experience
that won't shock anyone into incontinence but may keep some people up nights.
- Kim WIlson |
|