Inventive staging saves meandering 'Passage'

It's easy to see the allure of bringing E.M. Forster's classic 1924 novel "A Passage to India" to the stage. The Asian setting allows for plenty of color and theatricality, while the novel's critique of Great Britain's occupation of India offers up a dramatic clash of cultures.

Vitalist Theatre teams up with Premiere Theatre and Performance for a gorgeous and creatively staged Midwest premiere of "A Passage to India." The problem is the strangely unmoving 2002 script adaptation by Martin Sherman (best known for the 1970s gay concentration camp drama "Bent").

With the main conflict hinging on a mousy Englishwoman's wrongful rape accusation against a Muslim Indian doctor after a mysterious visit to the "Marabar Caves," Sherman's meandering script spends far too much time building up characters and adding on layers of color before tackling the dramatic crux. The end result is a sometimes ploddingȯˆ¿Ã‚ˆ½ and preachy show thatȯˆ¿Ã‚ˆ½ wears out its welcome at nearly three hours.

More Coverage Video 'Passage to India'

For example, compare the dramatic and climactic courtroom scenes in David Lean's Academy Award-honored 1984 film of "A Passage to India" to Sherman's take, with his slow-motion movements and interrupted interjections, and you'llÃcirc;macr;Ã#130;circ;iquest;Ã#130;circ;frac12; get a sense for what this play adaptation lacks.

Sherman does employ an Indian narrator in the character of Professor Godbole (a charming and aloof Madrid St. Angelo) to explain his polyglotÃcirc;macr;Ã#130;circ;iquest;Ã#130;circ;frac12; culture to the audience, but there is little guidance for directing sympathies to the characters. Forster himself also didn't help matters by creating multifaceted people who don't always fit neatlyÃcirc;macr;Ã#130;circ;iquest;Ã#130;circ;frac12; into good guy/bad guy templates.

If the script isn't up to the task, Vitalist's production under Elizabeth Carlin-Metz's fine direction mostly makes up for it with staging panache. The talented 14-member cast is constantly in motion to reflect India's teeming masses and to inventively depict everything from overcrowded trains to a stomping elephant.

Framed in Craig Choma's regal set of lacey Indian arches and featuring lovely period costumes by Rachel Sypniewski, this "Passage to India" is a sight to behold. It also offers plenty of complex roles for its actors.

Kamal Hans makes for an affable and appropriately testy Dr. Aziz, pairing nicely with Mary O'Dowd's feisty turn as the open-to-experience elderly Englishwoman Mrs. Moore, whom Aziz befriends in a chance encounter in a mosque.Ãcirc;macr;Ã#130;circ;iquest;Ã#130;circ;frac12;

Lori Myers' bookish take on the accusatory Adela Quested is picture perfect. Myers' insecurity of Adela being fiancee to the handsome, if very bigoted, small-time English official Ronny Halsop (a solid Ian Novak) is played with wonderful mixed-up uncertainty.

As the tolerant English professor Cyril Fielding, who is also friends with Dr. Aziz, Jeremy Clark might be a tad too understated when railing against his compatriots' overt racism, but he does provide solid support in the background.

Ãcirc;macr;Ã#130;circ;iquest;Ã#130;circ;frac12;If there are qualms with Vitalist's production, some of the actors' British dialects are very suspect. Also, Lisle resident Alka Nayyar's choreographic visions of Dr. Aziz's late wife danced by Amira Sabbagh stretch on a tad too long.

Considering the historical context, you'll also see how daring Forster was in pointing out British racist attitudes at a time of rising Indian nationalism in the 1920s. If the drama of Forster's "A Passage to India" is diluted in Sherman's stage adaptation, at least the folks at Vitalist provide enough intriguing staging and acting moments to make it worth a visit.

Vitalist - INDIA - 3: Fellow passengers look on anxiously as Dr. Aziz (Kamal Hans) reaches to haul Fielding (Jeremy Clark) aboard the departing train to the Marabar Caves.Ãcirc;macr;Ã#130;circ;iquest;Ã#130;circ;frac12; Photo Credit: Anna Bahow

"A Passage to India"

.. #189; stars out of four

Location: Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago

Times: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays; through May 18

Running time: 2 hours and 50 minutes with intermission

Parking: Valet and street parking

Tickets: $20-$25

Box office: (773) 327-5252

Rating: Some racial epitaphs and hookah use