THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Fantasist author Neil Gaiman has created a generous number of overtly gay and androgynous characters in his many works. According to Gaiman's own blog, his 1996 BBC TV series and novel, Neverwhere, has three gay characters, but you won't find them in this stage adaptation by Nathan Drackett ( who also directs ) . Drackett has so severely boiled down the story that there's scarcely any who/what/where/why to be found at all. As fantastic as the characters are, we are told so very little about them and the world they inhabit that understanding them—let alone empathizing with them—is impossible.

Gaiman's classic journey quest tale posits that beneath contemporary London ( and all great cities ) there is an underground world offering far more than marginal existence amidst the sewers and casements. For 'Up-Worlders' who have fallen through the cracks, London Below is a dimension of magic, angels and links to Atlantis that's organized—apparently—around a feudal system. I say apparently as the geo-political landscape is part of the exposition that receives short shrift in Drackett's reduction, as does the murder of the heroine's family, which seems to be the precipitating incident. People are referred to as Marquis, Lord and Baron and we haven't a clue who they are or what place they occupy in this unfamiliar parallel world. The show opens with a woman performing a short routine on silks. Very pretty, but to what purpose when we don't know who she is, why she's there or where we're supposed to be?

Neverland is presented by the Actors Gymnasium, a noted academy of training in physical theater and circus arts from contact improvisation to stilt-walking to trapeze, and they subtitle the show 'A Circus Underground.' Perhaps that should have tipped me off to expect far more circus than story. Certainly, a world of floating markets, angels and magic powers lends itself to expression via feats of tumbling, flying, strength and balance, especially as performed by a mostly-young cast of 12 who are blissfully lithe, limber and agile. They excel at their bits of juggling, choreographed fight-tumbling routines, Spanish web, straps and trapeze work. They are colorfully and imaginatively costumed by Anna Glowacki, with a nod toward commedia dell'arte and Harlequin. But you still need enough story to go 'round and this version simply ain't got it. You need some acting skills, too, which also are in short supply in this production.

Bottom line: This adaptation of Neverwhere reduces Gaiman's adult story to a family-friendly adventure lacking urgency even in life-and-death situations. Despite enjoyable physical feats, it appears more a showcase for rising young Actors Gym students than a fully professional performance.