Whimsical 'Umbrella' worth catching
">An astonishing piece of conceptual theater opened this week at Chicago Shakespeare Theater as part of its world stage program.A pan-cultural spectacle of mime, acrobatics, dance and music, James Thi#233;rr#233;e's fantastical "Farewell Umbrella (Au Revoir Parapluie)" is a loosely constructed reflection on separation and reunion. The marvelous Thi#233;rr#233;e -- a graceful, inventive performer, and like grandfather Charlie Chaplin, an accomplished and endearing clown -- plays a rumpled everyman who loses and recovers his family to find at last a place they can all call home.From unremarkable objects (rope, fish hooks, the skeleton of an umbrella) Thi#233;rr#233;e, who's credited with the show's conception and design, creates remarkable visuals. Adding to them is the choreography (beautifully performed by Ito) and among the freshest and most inventive I've seen in some time.Balancing the surreal and the ordinary, "Farewell Umbrella" combines grand and whimsical images: a tornado comprised of whirling ropes; a deluge of shuttlecocks; Thi#233;rr#233;e and dancer/acrobats Kaori Ito and Satchie Noro and vocalist Maria Sendow frolicking on a massive combination of fork lift and teeter-totter as it glides across the stage -- with lovely, intimate vignettes: a playful game of hide-and-seek between a father and child; a man negotiating a problematic jacket; a bumbling repairman (the wonderfully charismatic Magnus Jakobsson) who wrecks more than he repairs.There is a mythic search; a metamorphosis; a comic swordfight (a droll turn by Thi#233;rr#233;e and Jakobsson, who contributes a sly sleight-of-hand early in the show) and a curious encounter with a giant fish. But the story line matters less than the experience."Farewell Umbrella" -- like Cirque du Soleil, albeit more earthy and less glitzy -- allows audiences to delight in its pure theatricality.Unfortunately, like the fabled summer of Shakespeare's 18th sonnet, the lease of "Farewell Umbrella" hath all too short a date. The run is brief; the tickets are scarce, but the experience is worth having."Farewell Umbrella (Au Revoir Parapluie)"Rating: 3#189; stars Location: Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave., ChicagoTimes: 3 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Dec. 1Running Time: About 90 minutes, no intermissionTickets: $42-$56, limited tickets availableParking: Validated parking in the Navy Pier lotBox office: (312) 595-5600 or www.chicagoshakes.comRating: For all ages