Science, ethics collide in Redmoon's latest
Just because science allows it, doesn't mean it should be done. That caveat regarding the peril of the unfettered use of technology underscores Redmoon Theater's provoking and enigmatic "Dr. Egg and the Man with No Ear," a cautionary fairy tale (that tips its cap to Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein") about genetic manipulation, the consequences of upsetting the natural order and the responsibility a creator has for what he or she has created.
Catherine Fargher's "bioethical fable" centers on a Man (a sympathetic Brandon Boler) whose pregnant wife is killed in a bike accident caused by a vicious mutt who also chews off the Man's ear. Haunted by his loss, the Man sinks into depression. Determined to restore her father, his devoted Daughter (the beguiling Rebecca Mauldin) elicits help from Adam Shalzi's rumpled Dr. Egg, a scientist not overtly as much as overly zealous. Together they try to regrow the ear. Needless to say the results are not what they anticipated and their response to it is less than admirable.
The show is narrated by Dominic Green (who played Don Pedro in First Folio's "Much Ado About Nothing" last summer). Green is terrific as the perversely gleeful master of ceremonies who looks like a younger, hipper, more sinister version of "The Addams Family's" Uncle Fester. Mauldin, Boler and Shalzi also impress with their expressive acting and exquisitely shaded characters.
With the exception of John Horan's somber lighting and Lara Golan's appropriately unsettling music, Redmoon's production is a remount of a show Australian director Jessica Wilson premiered in Sidney last year. Artfully integrating her pitch-perfect ensemble with Jamie Clennett's ingenious animation and Graeme Davis' puppet doppelgangers, Wilson's staging is nothing less than inspired.
Like many Redmoon offerings, "Dr. Egg" flirts with the macabre. Yet the brief but satisfying show keeps its chills in check, the better to get its point across.
"Dr. Egg and the Man With No Ear"
Location: Redmoon Central, 1463 W. Hubbard St., Chicago
Times: 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 19
Running time: About 60 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: $15-$35
Parking: Street parking available
Box office: (312) 850-8440, ext. 111 or redmoon.org
Rating: For middle school and older