ROGERS PARK — Kurt Vonnegut’s 1963 satirical novel “Cat’s Cradle” considerations the risks of non secular extremism and unthinking adherence to know-how, culminating in a world-destroying local weather disaster.
“I can’t think why this story isn’t relevant now,” stated Heather Currie, who’s directing an adaptation of the ebook on the Lifeline Theatre in Rogers Park, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave.
After a summer time of global-warming-related disasters, ethical panics over drag queens and information tales written by AI, how might anybody argue?
“Cat’s Cradle,” opening Tuesday at Lifeline, tells the story of the entanglements of Jonah, a author (performed by Tony Bozzuto), with the household of Dr. Felix Hoenikker (Patrick Blashill), one of many fictional inventors of the atomic bomb, and with the inhabitants of San Lorenzo (an also-fictional island nation within the Caribbean) who’re dedicated to the calypso-based faith of Bokononism.
Vonnegut’s novel sprawls throughout area and time, and it fell to Currie and playwright John Hildreth to suit it onstage.
“John did a brilliant job of taking a story that has a lot of satellites and side stories, and distilling it and focusing it while still keeping those threads moving through,” stated Currie.
There have been further challenges, particularly the reason of the historical past, theology and vocabulary of Bokononism and the staging of spectacles equivalent to a aircraft crash and the tip of the world. These have been achieved with assistance from a slide projector and inventive use of mannequin airplanes and Barbie dolls, plus good, old-fashioned gentle and sound results and mime on the a part of the actors.
“I didn’t want to do something that looks like we wish we had a million dollars,” Currie stated. “I want something that celebrates who we are, when we are and where we are, and get creative.”
Another problem was Vonnegut himself: Some of his characters and jokes have aged in a manner that Currie thought could be distracting to audiences.
The character of Newt Hoenikker, a vertically challenged faculty scholar, as an illustration, refers to himself within the ebook as a “midget.” Currie felt this is able to not maintain up in 2023. Other characters may use the time period, however Newt himself wouldn’t. (In reality, little folks started protesting use of the phrase within the early Sixties, across the time Vonnegut was writing “Cat’s Cradle.”)
Currie additionally insisted that Newt be performed by an actor (Shea Lee) who actually was 4 toes 8 inches tall and who might empathize with the best way Newt is persistently dismissed or patronized by the opposite characters due to his peak.
There was additionally the issue of the novel’s feminine characters, who fall into three classes: shrews, intercourse objects and lifeless.
Currie’s resolution was to work with the actors to present the feminine characters company, regardless of the constraints of the plot.
“I don’t think if you watch the play it’ll hit you over the head, but you will feel the impact of a male-driven world on women,” Currie stated. “Not that we have 100-percent agency now, but at that time, [women] couldn’t get their own bank account.”
One scene Currie was particularly insistent on including was the place the scientist Hoenikker ideas his spouse Emily for serving him breakfast. This reveals each how girls have been anticipated to haven’t any different position in addition to caring for males and likewise how Hoenikker, who is totally wrapped up in his analysis, fails to see the best way his actions have an effect on different people and the planet on the whole.
Currie stated crucial a part of the difference was to not neglect that the ebook is usually very humorous and to protect as a lot of Vonnegut’s darkish humor as potential.
“My hope is that people will love the characters and go on a ride and laugh with us and at some point, whether it’s when they walk away or later that night or a week later, one of those ideas will set off self-recognition and self-reflection,” she stated. “I hope they don’t feel judgment. I hope they feel like we’re in it together. We’re all tendrils, all tied together.”
That final bit, by the way, is on the coronary heart of each Bokononism and “Cat’s Cradle” itself.
“Cat’s Cradle” opens 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave., and runs by means of Oct. 22. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Fridays, 2:30 p.m. and seven:30 p.m. Saturdays and a couple of:30 p.m. Sundays.
Tickets are $45, $35 for seniors, $20 for army and $15 for college kids. For extra data, go to the Lifeline Theatre web site.
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