People, people, there is so much good theatre going down around Chicago this month. But right up there at the tippety-toppest is TUTA Theatre Chicago’s darkly comedic fairy tale The Silent Language, directed by Jacqueline Stone; meaning, seriously, don’t miss this one. The U.S. premiere- written by Serbian playwright Miodrag Stanisavljevic and translated by Zoran Paunovic- is TUTA’s first foray into performances intended for younger audiences. And it’s spot on.
| Poor Gasho (Max Lotspeich) plays the guitar in TUTA’s The Silent Language Photo credit: Anthony Robert LaPenna |
Based on an old Serbian folk tale called Nemusti Jezik, the story concerns Gasho (an energetic and youthful Max Lotspeich), a poor servant who receives a gift of the silent language. This gift enables him to communicate with all things in nature, the things that often go unheard and overlooked. As he sets off on a quest to rescue a princess being held captive by the “threest” elf king (Aaron Lawson, hilarious and bumbling), Gasho finds himself both helped and hindered by the inhabitants of the fairy tale’s forest. The terrific ensemble also includes Sean Ewert (quietly terrifying as The Boogeyman), the hilarious trio of Jamielyn Gray, Angela Bullard, and Laurie Larson, and Carolyn Molloy as the plucky and desperate princess.
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