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Cloud Tectonics
by José Rivera
Directed by Juan Castañeda
Produced by Halcyon Theatre
At Peter Jones Gallery
1806 W. Cuyler (upstairs)
Chicago, IL
Tickets: 312-458-9170 or www.halcyontheatre.org $15
Thur. thru Sat. at 8:00 p.m. Sun. at 6:00 p.m.
Running time is 90 minutes with no intermission
Through February 17th
Clouds Adrift
Halcyon Theatre’s mission is telling great stories, so it isn’t surprising that they should look to works in the tradition of master storyteller Gabriel García Márquez for inspiration. As literature such works have become a bit passé in the all-too-realistic new century, but even casting aside trendiness, José Rivera’s Cloud Tectonics isn’t a very good example of the genre. The show’s premise is that if we could love another person strongly enough, love them in all ways, time would suspend and the world that depends on it would let us live in peace. It’s a beautiful return-to-the-garden premise, but in Cloud Tectonics the plot devices are thin and the inexperienced cast at Halcyon are left dangling, without direction.
Cloud Tectonics tells the tale of Anibal (Miguel “Guelo” Morales), a young baggage handler at LAX, and the night he fell in love with Celestina (Aimee Bravo), a pregnant hitchhiker. The two return to Anibal’s house where one enchanted night turns into two years…literally. In the presence of Anibal time is suspended and what transpires in an evening inside the home passes as two years for regular folks on the outside and seems almost as long for those in the audience. Bravo is the best of the young cast, but the pacing is plodding and Morales frequently looks uncomfortable and fumbles with props in meaningless and unconvincing fashion. Their interlude is interrupted by the sudden and unexpected arrival of Anibal’s brother Nelson (Greg Wenz) whom Anibal has not seen for six years. Nelson’s entrance brings a bit of action to the clumsy scene, but Wenz is nearly as jittery and uncomfortable onstage as Morales and one must ask where was director Juan Castañeda as these scenes were prepared?
The story jumps across the two-year-long night bookended by the appearance of brother Nelson and later across the rest of Anibal’s mortal life. The bit of excitement that comes into the show across this suspended time span is too little, too late. The total effect is amateurish.
NOT RECOMMENDED
Randy Hardwick
randyontheglobe@yahoo.com for comments
Date Reviewed: January 20, 2008
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