Circus Welt

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Circus Welt at the Whitefire Theatre Reviewed by Neal Weaver January 14, 2010 In pre-revolutionary Russia, playwright Leonid Andreyev rivaled Chekhov and Gorky in popularity and importance, but only his romantic drama "He Who Gets Slapped" has achieved classic status: It was made into a silent film with Lon Chaney, was twice produced on Broadway, and has been repeatedly produced by L.A. theaters. But writer-director-producer Pavel Cerny was offended by its overblown romanticism and melodrama, so he wrote this free adaptation, which transposes the action to Hitler's Germany in 1933. Andreyev's play about existential angst and soul-sickness has become a drama about Nazism, with most of the characters politicized. The central character, known only as He (Joshua Grenrock), has been ill-treated by fate. An old college friend (Adam Christopher) has stolen his wife and plagiarized his book, and now He seeks to escape the world by becoming an anonymous clown in the circus of Papa Bricke (John Moskal), where he is known as He Who Gets Slapped. He falls in unrequited love with the lovely bareback rider Consuelo (Tanya Goott), but she loves the handsome horse trainer Bezano (Patrick Koffel), while her father, a down-at-hell Italian nobleman (Kurt Hargan), seeks to marry her off to wealthy Baron von Reinhardt (Ed Brigadier), who also happens to be the leader of the local Storm Troopers. The circus family includes a colorful array of characters, played by a cast of 19. The Lion Tamer Maria (Stephanie T. Keefer, in a role played by Stella Adler in the 1945 Broadway revival of Andreyev's play) is a crypto-Jew, who lives in fear that her unacknowledged ethnicity will be discovered by the Nazis. Two gay clowns, Polly and Tilly (Lee Biolos and Justin Hertner), must also live in fear of Nazi reprisals. And a lively chorus of clowns (Jeff Williams, Doug Oliphant, Sam Rhodes, and Dustin Saied) performs entr'actes that mix slapstick with scarifying accounts of the Nazi rise to power. Grenrock makes a touching figure of the put-upon clown who idealizes the shallow Consuelo, Keefer scores as the unhappy lion tamer who perversely wants her lions to love her, and Moskal brings unexpected reality to the role of Papa Bricke. Matthew Morgan provides clever clown choreography, and Shayla Kundera supplies colorful circus costumes. Director Cerny has constructed a neat revision of the script, but the overarching Nazi menace sometimes drowns out the subtleties of Andreyev's original. Presented by and at the Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Jan. 10–Feb. 14. Sun., 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. (866) 811-4111. www.theatermania.com

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