Space Wars: The Panto!
Written by Jessica Puller
Directed by Nicole Keating
Evanston Arts Depot, 600 Main, Evanston (map)
thru Dec 17 | tickets: $15-$25 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
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Tossed in space
Piccolo Theatre presents
Space Wars: The Panto!
Review by Lawrence Bommer
For the zanies at Piccolo Theatre the holiday season means one thing—panto! That means their annual panto(mime), a British import that combines hints of burlesque, music-hall verve, literary parody, cheeky vaudeville and slapstick and crowd-pleasing interaction. Last year the legend of “Robin Hood” got a mock-manic panto makeover. This year it’s “Star Wars”: The subtly-renamed Space Wars: The Panto! by Jessica
Silly and sometimes even funny, Nicole Keating’s anything-for-a-laugh staging focuses on Berner Taylor’s contagiously intrepid Mark Sleepwalker, a young dreamer who wants to escape his fussbudget mom (Andrew Puckett, in the second prime drag role) and find fun in outer space. Defying his mom’s terrible choices for eligible intergalactic princesses, Mark ends up as one more suitor for Princess Ha-el (demure Sarah Mayhan), stepdaughter of the evil Queen Livia (hard-scheming villainess Lauren Goode) and klutzy stepbrother Fenton (dweebish Adrian Garcia).
As with the courtship of Princess Turandot, Mark must accomplish a feat—to retrieve the legendary helmet of the apocryphal Lone Spaceman. He receives help from cute robot sidekicks Mac and PC and the Spock-like Ambassador Snoozer (Ben Muller in the smoothest performance in this uneven romp).
That pursuit takes us deep into the spoofery of George Lucas’ tangled plotlines and familial revenge (“Use the farce!”). An android clan of Ha-el (Kate Black-Spence) manages to entrance Fenton instead of Mark. Along the way from the planet of What’s It 2 You 7 to Edsel 13 we’re regaled with a blacklit cosmic battle with toy spaceships, a cream pie fight with space “fuel,” some Martian jokes, organized boos, hisses and cheers from the compliant crowd, a ton of mugging and a handful of forgettable songs and seemingly endless choreography.
It’s all, as Gilbert said, “precious nonsense,” enhanced by some clever video sci-fi sequences by Laura Nash and a lot of required enthusiasm from the panto-primed crowd. Despite dedicatedly daffy panto buffoonery, it all seems a tad forced and a little long. (In fact it’s too long, considering that – because of a water main break – the entire train station lacks functioning bathrooms: Audience and Metra public alike must suffice with one outdoor Port-O-Potty). That’s not so funny.
Rating: ★★
Star Wars: The Panto! continues through December 17th at Evanston Arts Depot, 600 Main Street, Evanston (map), with performances Fridays at 7:30, Saturdays at 3pm and 7:30pm, and Sundays at 3pm. Tickets are $15-$25, and are available by phone (847-424-0089) or online at PrintTixusa.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at PiccoloTheatre.com.
All photos by REP3
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