Playwright: Laura Schellhardt
At: Serendipity at the Raven Theatre
Phone: (773) 296-0163; $15
Runs through: Oct. 2
The joy of theater is to encounter unexpected leaps of imagination, and vigorous theatrical storytelling serving that imagination. The Outfit is the genuine article. It confirms the growing reputation of five-year old Serendipity Theatre Company for sure-footed and provocative new work.
The Outfit takes inspiration from The Overcoat, Nikolai Gogol's famous and influential 1842 short story, adapted countless times in all media. But The Outfit goes far beyond mere adaptation to create a different and larger story. Gogol's biting satire on bureaucracy and class conflict illustrates the maxim 'Clothes make the man.' The Outfit expands the premise to a fable about power dressing taken to the max. Author Laura Schellhardt changes the sex of the central figure, places the tale in contemporary America, and promotes a secondary character in Gogol, a tailor, to primary and romantic status.
The script and staging are what is called magic realism. Inexplicable things—mystical, comical, dramatic or romantic—are played out in a heightened but realistic manner. A hint of Pygmalion and Galatea and a touch of Faust color the transformation of poor, downtrodden, abused Nora when she dons the stylish new threads of Marco, the would-be designer who changes her life. Three lively Italian ladies oversee the tale as Greek chorus and ring mistresses. Officially, they are Marco's aunts in the Old Country; actually, they're an arbitrary theatrical device that happens to work!
Director Matt Miller wrangles the large cast (14) with fair grace, coordinating much dance-like movement to Mikhail Fiksel's sound design and music. As seen at a final preview, some physical bits and dialogue sequences remained rough or ill-timed, but were minor (and temporary) flaws in this highly creative endeavor. Clothes are everything in The Outfit, and Joshua Allard's designs are appropriately witty—without reference to actual fashions—for the women but blah for the men. I question the neutral color palette of most costumes and the all-black (but architecturally fine) scenic design by Jen Lampson. Designs as varied in color and texture as the tale itself would enhance the magic of The Outfit, not detract from it.
Lauren Pesca is a perfect, Rubensian blank as Nora, her sad and repressed life slowly unfolding through narration and flashback. In fact, she's too blank. Author Schellhardt gives Nora few words, yet somehow must let us inside her head more. We need to feel Nora's despair, know its causes and perceive why Nora won't fight for herself early on, and then experience her blossoming opposite the ebullient Marco of compact, handsome James Elly. Why is Marco smitten? Right now, that's an important missing element, as is a final embrace between the two.
The Outfit still needs some stitching and shaping, but it's cut from rich, supple cloth.