It’s All Fun and Games

Adaptation – Theatre Above the Law

Theatre Above the Law is opening its fourth season with a revival of Elaine May’s Adaptation, a play that sets the choices and compromises we all have to make over the course of our lives as a brightly colored, chaotic game show.

Anchoring the action as game master is sixth grader Delilah Lane. Theatre Above the Law has made it part of its mission to nurture young talent and bring arts programs to schools, and as was the case in last season’s Amicable, the show’s youngest actor was among the strongest. It’s a tall order to ask a sixth grader to dryly oversee the vague disappointments and setbacks in life, but she brought the right balance of game show enthusiasm and darker bite.

The cast as a whole did a great job keeping things moving constantly on the small set. The energy on this one has to stay up the whole time or the show will never have a chance to regain its footing, and the contestant, played by David Hartley, and the other players, portrayed by Ross Compton, Julia Rowley, and Travis Shanahan all trade off roles and focus quite well.

The play was written in 1968, so its cultural touchstones for both success and conflict do feel a little dated, and it robs it of a little urgency. That said, I’ve seen several shows try to update their work’s references and it made the problems worse, not better. (Ask me sometime about the production of Company I saw that attempted to bring the show to age of social media and text messaging.) That all said, certain themes are timeless, and the journey to adulthood is certainly one of them.

Coming in at a brisk 60 minutes, the show may feel a little short, but in practice, I think it helps make sure the show’s plates all keep spinning but never fall down. The result is an enjoyable, if brief, exploration of the game we all have to play, whether we like it or not.

Recommended

Reviewed by Kevin Curran

Presented February 6 – March 8 by Theatre Above the Law at 1439 W Jarvis Ave, Chicago, IL 60626.

Tickets are available at www.theatreatl.org.

Additional information about this and other fine area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.