Ghost Bike
Written by Laura Jacqmin
Directed by Sara Sawicki
at Greenhouse Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln (map)
thru April 6 | tickets: $15-$20 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
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World premiere a pleasant bike-centric diversion
Buzz22 Chicago presents
Ghost Bike
Review by Catey Sullivan
Greek mythology by way of Chicago’s bike lanes propels Laura Jacqmin‘s quirky, fast-paced take on death, grief and moving on. Ingeniously staged by Buzz22′s Sara Sawicki, Ghost Bike pedals along at a quick pace and boasts an impressive amount of actual on-stage cycling. But while the sight of multiple actors zipping around the intimate confines of the Greenhouse Theater on two-wheelers (and the occasional unicycle) is delightful, Ghost Bike stops short of being truly, consistently compelling. The plot here outweighs the character development. The people (and otherworldly entities) moving the story forward are rich in idiosyncrasies but shallow of depth. As they zip past, they make interesting but only fleeting impressions.
For Ora, however, his death is unacceptable. She carries his helmet and the remains of his bicycle in her messenger bag, cuts off all ties from friends and sinks into an isolated funk of obsessive denial and deep depression. Through a cleverly staged series of voice mails, Jacqmin quite effectively shows the passage of time, and how in a world without Eddie, the wheels keep inevitably turning while Ora remains stuck in place. It’s not until her parents insist that she see a psychiatrist that Ora begins moving again, but her journey isn’t due to the ministrations of the doctor (written and played as a over-the-top series of ineffectual stereotypes). While in the waiting room, she has a chance meeting with a suspiciously outgoing young man who launches her on a journey into the underworld.
What follows is playfully picaresque, as Ora rides the route of an eerily magical map through a hidden world below Chicago’s streets. Sawicki’s staging is at its best when Ora encounters the gods, monsters and cliques of dead souls that lurk beneath. Ora’s confrontation with a snapping, growling trio of hellish hounds (think Cerberus) is marvelously vivid and threaded with humor amid the menace. Choreographer Philip de Guzman brings the underworld’s dangerous river to life in a fantastic scene that depicts water as the tragic repository of lost souls.
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Less effective are the flashbacks that fill the audience in on just how Eddie’s accident happened and how he and Ora came to be best friends. Neither character is nearly as deep as that underground river. Moreover, Ora’s plucky precociousness often skews into juvenile brattiness; she reads more like a grade schooler who’s just been sent to bed without supper than a grieving adult. Eddie remains a kindly cypher throughout, someone who is pleasant but unmemorable. The most intriguing member of the narrative is played by Scot West. As a slacker who turns up on the psychiatrist’s office, he initially seems inconsequential – suffice to say he isn’t at all what he seems.
True to its title, Ghost Bike boasts an impressive array of bicycles, designed by Molly Fitzmaurice. The dead ride around on ghostly white bikes, the living opt for color. There’s also a two-wheeled, six- (or so) seat contraption that’s a triumph of engineering and humor.
Flesh out the souls – living and otherwise – riding around on those bikes and you’d have a play that’s far more than pleasant entertainment. As it is, Ghost Bike is merely a nice diversion.
Rating: ★★½
Ghost Bike continues through April 6th at Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays 4pm. Tickets are $15-$20, and are available by phone (773-404-7336) or online through GreenhouseTheater.org (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at Buzz22Chicago.com. (Running time: play length, includes an intermission)
Photos by Justin Barbin
artists
cast
Aurora Adachi-Winter (Ora), Ricky Staffieri (Eddie), Scot West (King Yama, Satyr), Thea Lux, Ben Hertel, Lea Pascal, Quincey Krull, Alex Tey, Margaret Cook.
behind the scenes
Sara Sawicki (director), John Wilson (set design), Izumi Inaba (costume design, makeup design), Jeff Glass (lighting design), Daniel Carlyon (sound design), Molly FitzMaurice (props design), Nathan Drackett (choreographer), Matt Deitchman (original composition), George Bajalia (bike consultant), Justin Barbin (photos)
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