Through Sun 4/24
There will be no spoilers in this review because the Cleveland Play House’s current offering, Rajiv Joseph’s Mr. Wolf, like all fine drama, derives power from dazzling us with experiences shared with the characters as they happen. Together, we and the characters onstage struggle to make sense of things. Mr. Wolf wonderfully illustrates how our beliefs can resonate, vibrate between our hearts and our intellect.
After the play ends, Mr. Wolf provides abundant material to analyze, inspire a few psychology book searches, and provoke serious musings about luck and the capacity for survival after trauma. (If this were an academic paper, here would be the place for a footnote that says “See Joanna Connor’s new book, I Will Find You. Since it’s not, I’ll continue.)
The production in the Outcalt Theatre opens with young teen Theresa (Juliet Brett) compulsively drawing on a chalkboard and methodically walking the labyrinthine pattern of a braided oval rug (you know, the rug you find at J. C. Penny or L. L. Bean — straight out of a middle America living room). Mr. Wolf (John de Lancie) comes in with gifts for her and seems like a loving grandfather, but there’s also something disconnected about their interaction. One judgment by the viewer (the child is autistic? A genius? Both?) replaces another and sections of the fascinating crossword puzzle that playwright Joseph and director Giovanna Sardelli have (metaphorically) laid before us are filled in square by square.
Settings switch back and forth and so we soon move away from them to other locations where we meet other characters. There’s a brusquely taciturn Michael (Todd Cerveris) and first wife, the glamorous and bossy Hana (Jessica Dickey), and his second wife, the hopeful, warm-hearted Julie (Rebecca Brooksher). The story begins to fall into place as events cause assumptions (ours and theirs) to shift. Characters (de Lancie plays all the male authority figures) open up to reveal vulnerabilities, strengths and graces that perhaps they never realized they possessed. Together this ensemble of four absolutely convincing, persuasive, “take you to another world” actors constructs a brilliant illusion of reality under the sensitive direction of Sardelli.
Sliding platforms, rising lifts, starry skies, ordinary living rooms and massive bookcases, created by scenic designer Timothy R. Mackabee, expand the intimate theatre (and even create a few onstage surprises). Amy Clark’s unassuming costume choices lend an air of suburban reality as does Gian Scherr’s lighting design that shows us where to focus.
Bottom Line: This not-to-be missed centerpiece production of the 2016 New Ground Theatre Festival at the Cleveland Play House provides a splendid example of how live theatre can both shatter and redeem illusion. It’s something known intellectually, but not often expressed in such a challenging and intense manner.
[Written by Laura Kennelly] [Photo by Roger Mastroianni]Cleveland, OH 44115