Playwright: Annie Baxter. At: Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln. Tickets: 773-871-3000; www.victorygardens.org; $20-$50. Runs through: April 17
Along with The Big Meal, a current hit at American Theater Company, Circle Mirror Transformation is a work of hyper-naturalism by a young American playwright. Is this a trend? Stay tuned.
So, what's hyper-naturalism? Well, in this case playwright Annie Baxter ignores conventional wisdom about plot construction and pace in favor of a score of super-realistic short scenes, few seeming to be of major importance but which collectively pack a punch ... if you only have the patience to stick with the show. You may find the first half-hour amusing, frustrating or even boring but it won't add up to much as you watch five rather ordinary folks, ages 16-60, take a six-week creative dramatics class at a small-town Vermont community center.
Creative dramatics isn't putting on a play; it's a series of exercises and theater games designed to stimulate the imagination, free one from inhibitions and learn to trust the ensemble. The exercises can be silly or stupid or fun when you're participating in them, but they don't give an audience much to savor when presented in as scenes of a play in close-to-real-time. What they DO provide are ample opportunities for character exposition and interaction as, over the weeks of the class, the characters become more and more emotionally exposed, and their small-town lives become more interlocked. The title, Circle Mirror Transformation, refers to a fundamental creative dramatics game in which the participants first mimic each others' movements and then transform the movement into something else.
This is not a play that would read well (I would guess). I think it must be experienced with the physicality, nuance and necessary time—much of it silent—of an actual performance, and that performance must have utterly clear direction along with acting that's consistently understated and naive. You think it's easy for professional actors to play amateur actors without hamming it up? You think it's easy to play comedy without ever tipping off the audience that you know you're both ha-ha-funny and peculiar-funny?
Fortunately, this production boasts actors who neither ham nor signal the comedy in advance. They are as true as trivets in nailing five decent people caught in a class together and caught in life's ordinary traps. All are Chicago-based veterans who do our local ensemble tradition proud. Director Dexter Bullard, ever up for a challenge, has respected the leisurely pace the script demands while imposing a sure sense of character and emotional detail. This script and production take common people and enlarge them.
Kudos to scenic designer Grant Sabin and lighting designer Jesse Klug, whose institutional multi-purpose room is beautifully realized and far trickier than it looks, utilizing a complete ceiling (rare in theater) and indirect lighting.
