'Moreau' production completely engrossing

Lifeline Theatre may not deliver spectacle on the scale of that found in Chicago's theater district, but the talented ensemble never fails to impress. And in many ways, smaller scale notwithstanding, its artistry rivals that of its better financed downtown counterparts. Case in point: its chilling production of H.G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau."Working out of a small Rogers Park theater, on a modest budget, Lifeline delivers a bold, adrenaline-fueled adaptation of Wells' tale of shipwrecked lepidopterologist Edward Prendick (a pallid Phil Timberlake, compelling as a reasonable man driven beyond reason) transformed by his encounter with evil masquerading as enlightenment. Having survived days adrift at sea and a rescue ship crewed by brutish sailors led by a merciless captain (Tony Bozzuto), Prendick finds himself on a remote island inhabited by Montgomery (fine work by Yosh Hayashi as the sardonic, self-loathing former physician) assistant to the disgraced Dr. Moreau (a disturbingly dispassionate Nigel Patterson). After news of his vivisection experiments forced him into exile, Moreau retreated to an island. Resuming his experiments to accelerate evolution and create a new species, he has populated his anti-utopia with a grotesque menagerie of human-beast hybrids, who he presides over like a god, demanding obedience to laws contrary to the fundamental nature of the beasts. Sean Sullivan's affecting turn as the loyal hybrid M'Ling, and Paul Myers' manic Jabbering One deserve mention, along with the rest of the ensemble consisting of Dan Hale, Sienna Harris, Lynette Morris (substituting for Stacie Barra at Saturday's press performance), Tiffany Joy Ross, Aaron Snook and Jonathan Stutzman.Astutely directed by Paul S. Holmquist and adapted by Robert Kauzlaric -- who condenses the disturbing 1896 novel into a tense 90 minutes -- Lifeline's production is a superior bit of seasonally appropriate theater that manages to both chill the spine and stimulate the mind.The philosophical debates between Prendick and Moreau border on the pedantic, but Kauzlaric's streamlined narrative is sound. As for the production's look, let's just say Lifeline accomplishes remarkable things within its confined space. Tom Burch's arresting set morphs seamlessly from 19th-century schooner to a profane Eden made more menacing by Kevin D. Gawley's murky lighting and Victoria Delorio's unsettling sound effects and primal music, whose wailing violins and frenzied flutes recall the island's unfortunate inhabitants. Add to that Kimberly G. Morris' fantastical masks and costumes, and you have a show that grabs you and refuses to let go. A gripping combination of tension and bombast, "Moreau" makes for engrossing theater and a shrewd cautionary tale about what happens when science outpaces morality; progress takes priority over principles; and outsiders impose order at the point of gun upon a community they don't understand. In that respect, "The Island of Dr. Moreau" remains as scathing a social critique today as it did a century ago. "The Island of Dr. Moreau"3 1/5 stars out of fourLocation: Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave., Chicago Times: 7:30 p.m. Fridays, 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 5 p.m. Sundays; through Dec. 2 Running Time: About 90 minutes, no intermission Tickets: $15-$25Parking: Some street parking, free lot several blocks north of the theater in the Trilogy lot at Glenwood and Estes Box office: (773) 761-4477 or www.lifelinetheatre.comRating: Violence, disturbing themes, for older teens and adults