Allegorical Romp

By T.E .K.

From Aesop to Orwell, fables have been populated with animals; yet, the animals have simply been people in a transparent disguise. The fable is the mythic mirror of man, and what he sees there is not his face but his nature.

In Story Theater, Director Paul Sills and his enviably talented company have set this mirror on the stage and its reflecting images constitute a hilarious allegorical romp. Story Theater is a mode of dramatic presentation as well as a title. The idea is to illustrate texts, usually myths, legends and folk tales, with a limited use of words. Sills, a co-founder of Chicago's Second City Company, calls it "ways of speaking with your body." In this production, largely drawn from Grimm's fairy tales, the stories follow a straight narrative line, but veer off at every other moment into uproarious lunatic humor and fancy.

In Henny Penny, the animal imitations are so penetrating as to fool Noah if he were reloading the ark. The duo representing the Two Crows wear black baseball caps with outsize yellow peaks. By cocking this headgear at each other with a kind of jerky solemnity, the pair reduce to a satirical shambles all of the world's bogus expertise and high-level-conference pomposity.

For bright children, this is a grand Christmas show that has arrived before Thanksgiving. Story Theater's great and generous gift is that it awakens and delights the dramatic instincts of the child who lies dormant in each of us. sbT.E.K.

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