ONCE UPON a time, around the turn
of the century, according to "Josephine the Mouse Singer,"
there was a world of silent, hard working little mice who loved
to listen to the piping of the only mouse in their midst who
called her pepping singing.
Josephine, because she believed she
was a singer and an artist, considered herself above the everyday
mice around her and wanted to be freed from mundane labor so
she could devote all her time to her art.
She grew bitter when the judges of
the community told her that she would have to continue to work
along with the other mice in the fields, and she spurned the
common fans who grew starry-eyed over her.
She swore she would keep her songs
pure, driving some of her many lovers to suicide when she insisted
that she cared only for matters of art and the spirit and not
for such gross things as rubbing fur together and making babies.
Not everyone in her adoring public
was sure that her singing was so special. Some, in fact, considered
it nothing out of the ordinary. But whenever she sang, she attracted
a crow, thus stopping the necessary work of the day and putting
her audience in danger of death when they stood still to hear
her.
One day, after many disappointments
in her efforts to be free from the ordinary world, Josephine
just disappeared from view, becoming a small part of mouse history,
or perhaps just passing into the void, where she would be adored
in the world beyond.
THIS SLENDER FABLE on the nature
of art, the personal and public character of the artist, and
the relationships of the artist to society first appeared in
"Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk," a short
story by Franz Kafka.
Michael McClure, the San Francisco
playwright who is the author of such plays as "The Beard"
and "gargoyle Cartoons," in turn adapted the story
into "Josephine the Mouse Singer," a 75-minute one-act
verse drama, which won an Obie award for the 1978-79 Off Broadway
season and which opened its Midwest premiere engagement Wednesday
night in the Theater Building, 1225 W. Belmont Av.
The presentation, a joint venture
of the Pary Production Company and director June Pyskacek's Chicago
Theater Strategy, is very well produced in its small stage area.
Rick Paul's black-curtained setting
of giant thistles, pussy willows, and stalks of wheat gracefully
evokes the tiny world of the scurrying mice, as do his props
of matchbox carts and wedges of Swiss cheese.
Gene Wojeik's lighting patterns smoothly
handle the transitions for the play's many scenes, and Patricia
Hart's patched Edwardian costumes and wee mouse ears and tails
for the play's 11 actors are witty creations for fairy tale creatures.
Tony Zito's electronic music and
percussive sound effects also add to the production's environment
of a total mouse world.
Unfortunately, neither McClure's
verse nor Pyskacek's players have the ability to elevate this
slight satirical fable to more than an amusing theatrical conceit.
However, Shirley Akune as Josephine,
her long fingers extended in ecstatic communion with the mouse
muse, manages to suggest the vanity, selfishness, and talent
of a charismatic artist; and Alex Kerr is an ingratiating and
articulate narrator as the town crier mouse who tells the bittersweet
history of Josephine.
"Josephine The Mouse Singer"
A play in one act by Michael McClure, based
on Franz Kafka's story "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse
Folk" directed by June Pyskacek, with set by Rick Paul,
lighting by Gene Wojeik, costumes by Patricia Hart, and Music
and sound by Tony Zito. Presented by Pary Production Company
and Chicago Theater Strategy in the Theater Building, 1225 W.
Belmont Av. Opened May 28 and plays at 8 p.m. Thursday through
Sunday, with a 3:30 p.m. matinee Sunday, through July 6. Phone
327-5252 or 248-8151.
The Cast
The Narrator.........................Alex
Kerr
Josephine.........................Shirley Akune
Baby.................................Douglas Post
With Janet Nawrockl, Chuck Rickett, Ivory Ocean,
Douglas Frank, Chris Nibble, Isabella
Hoffman, Lia Nicine McCoo, and Debra DelGreco.
|
return to top
