Playwright: Tony Adams. At: Halcyon Theatre at The Greenhouse, 2257 N. Lincoln.Tickets: 773-404-7336; www.halcyontheatre.org; $18-$20. Runs through: Feb. 6
Readers of my reviews may know that I rarely write raves or pans. Most shows are some shade of gray, not black or white, and I try to discuss both the good and not-so-good elements with equitability. Further, you may know that I don't use criticism to launch personal attacks on individual artists. If you believe equitability is the basis of my merit as a theater critic, please stop reading now! What follows is a total pan, including name-calling. It's only January but I already know Trickster is one of the worst productions of 2011. It was written and directed by Halcyon Theatre artistic director Tony Adams, who should resign for wasting Halcyon's no-doubt-slender resources.
But first things first. In the beginning, Earth was dominated by animals and spirits, who gave each animal a task and a power. Coyote was made chief of the animals, with the ability to change shapes, and ordered to balance his tricks by keeping monsters at bay. Fox was made Coyote's guardian, with the power to resurrect Coyote through any surviving body part should Coyote buy the farm. Changing into a swan, Coyote seduces Mrs. Swan, then changes into a rock to hide from Mr. Swan. Coyote hides for 500 years, during which time Wolf becomes god and humans appear on Earth. The Spirits order animals and humans to join forces to defeat Wolf, after which the animals must yield to the epoch of human dominance on Earth.
That's the story, but Adams' telling of it is a jigsaw puzzle of fragments lacking clear narrative lines and character development. Many scenes lack relevance to the larger story or are inconsequential: An elaborate early scene concerns naming the animals, only they already have names. On the basis of what I observed, I'd judge Adams to be a 21-year-old theater student who's dashed off a monumental play inspired by Native American mythology, the Old Testament, Joseph Campbell and spaghetti Westerns.
Trickster is unrelentingly brutal, violent, inexplicable, humorless and misogynistic with animals and humans alike conveying tales of rape, murder, pillage and war. Its vocabulary is unnecessarily vulgar to no artistic purpose. The human characters are dressed in clothing that's dirty, bloody, sweaty or all three when they're dressed at all: Half the large cast appears in totally gratuitous nude scenes. At two hours and 40 minutes, Trickster is at least 40 minutes too long, although cutting it wouldn't make it a good play. Actors know when they're in a bad show. The wonder is how Adams kept all 19 of them from quitting.
Halcyon Theatre has survived for six years, but Trickster undermines its future credibility and professionalism. Tony Adams: Apologize and repeat Theater 101.