Amid the plethora of knockoffs, parodies and spoofs based on Johnston McCulley's classic swashbuckler, it is too easy to overlook the social issues—specifically, the call for citizens to unite in rebellion against corrupt leaders—at the roots of its conflict. Our setting might be Spanish California circa 1800, but the masked bandit who rides by night to thwart and humiliate the officers of a self-serving governor is as much a crusader for justice as any modern reformer.
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Playwright: adapted by Katie McLean from the novel by Johnston McCulley. At: Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood. Phone: 773-761-4477; $25. Runs through: June 22. Photo by Suzanne Plunkett
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McCulley draws on many of his literary genre's predecessors in populating his arena ( the lineage of his nobly-born, but morally dissolute, Captain Ramón, for example, can be traced to 1651 and Calderón's Mayor Of Zalamea ) , and his story's original structure as a serial could easily reduce the action to a Road-Runner series of chase-and-clash skirmishes. But Katie McLean's adaptation progresses with an efficiency that has us eagerly anticipating each new event, while Dorothy Milne's direction sets a brisk, but never hurried, pace that propels us along at a tempo where never a second is wasted in self-conscious sniggering.
This principle also applies to the actors. Playing this material demands total immersion into each character's individual truth—even when occupying a personality for barely a few minutes, as Lifeline's trademark multiple-casting requires. But the ensemble for this production is at the top of its form, both physically and mentally, whether crossing blades, courting sweethearts or riding to the rescue of the intrepid hero. ( That's right—the spectacle includes a thrilling pursuit on horseback, and you'll have to see for yourself how Milne and award-winning fight choreographer Geoff Coates pull it off on a stage measuring a mere 28 feet by 30 feet. )
James Elly exhibits appropriate panache as the gallant with the angelic face and the lightning rapier, as does Rosa de Guindos ( sporting a genuine Madrileño accent ) as his valiant lady, and Larry Baldacci and Don Bender as their unwitting elders, along with an assortment of villains, notably Robert Kauzlaric doing his reptilian turn as the lecherous Captain and a bullicioso-voiced Manny Tamayo in the role of the boastful Sgt. Gonzales. So dazzling is the agility displayed by the 13-member cast as they scramble, slink and swarm over Alan Donahue's sleepy desert pueblo, their athletic exuberance enhanced by Victoria DeIorio's Andulusian incidental music, that when it wraps up after a breathless two hours ( with one intermission ) , the exhilaration is like an explosion a fresh-air factory.