THEATER | For Ten Thousand Things, "Life's a Dream"—and a good one, at that

The first Ten Thousand Things production I attended was a ticketed performance at Open Book, but since then I've seen two of their shows performed at correctional facilities, and I've come to realize that when you see a Ten Thousand Things show in front of a typical theater audience, you're missing something. These shows are made for non-traditional audiences, and seeing them in front of a typical paying audience is like seeing Lawrence of Arabia on YouTube.

That's especially the case with the company's current show Life's a Dream, a 400-year-old story that very pointedly raises a number of themes germane to the lives of inmates, shelter residents, and the rest of us as well: the curse of low expectations, the transience of romance, the way you can feel so intensely about someone you're not entirely sure whether it's love or hate or both. The stellar cast renders these themes so vividly that I wanted to shout at the characters as I'm told inmates—particularly female inmates—often do. "What the hell are you doing, lady?!"

The script was adapted by Adrian Mitchell from a 1635 play by Spanish writer Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Set in medieval Poland (now there are four words I don't expect to put together again any time again soon), the story concerns Prince Sigismund (Namir Smallwood), whose birth caused the death of his mother and was attended by so many ill omens that his father King Basilio (Dennis Spears, speaking in a kingly rumble that would make James Earl Jones proud) confined him for life to a secluded tower. With his health failing and his niece (Celeste Jones) and nephew (Ki Seung Rhee) failing to convince him that they're suited to rule Poland together in wedded bliss, Basilio decides to install his son in the throne on a trial basis to see whether the omens were correct—if Sigismund screws up, they can always throw him back in the tower and tell him the whole episode was a dream. Meanwhile, Rosaura (Maggie Chestovich) has come to Poland to kill her faithless lover (Rhee) and, if the opportunity presents itself, maybe her delinquent dad as well—her dad being, known to us and him but not to her, Sigismund's jailkeeper Cotaldo (Stephen D'Ambrose). Got that?

The first half of the play unfolds as a ripping good yarn, with the freed Smallwood trying to restrain his brutish impulses to rape and murder (there's a Rousseauian debate about human nature buried in there, but it's not paid much attention) and Chestovich taking a job as Jones's lady-in-waiting so she can get up in Rhee's business. As Clarion the clown, my friend Elise Langer does the best oh-shit-I'm-gettin-outta-here doubletakes you're likely to see this season. Unexpected developments pile up quickly in the second half, muddying the plot for a while, but by the end the stakes are clear and the story reaches an unexpectely unsatisfying resolution that's made satisfying by the actors' ability, under the direction of Michelle Hensley, to portray their characters' conflicted feelings. The unconflicted feelings come across quite vividly too—when Chestovich jumped out from behind me roaring, "My name is death!", I just about peed my pants. Audience members will definitely have things to talk about after the show.

If Life's a Dream doesn't hit with the force of, say, Ten Thousand Things' Othello, well, Shakespeare can't write every play. This is an engaging production with uniformly strong performances by the kind of dream cast that the company always rounds up. Peter Vitale's ambient music and effects add a crucial layer to the production, but Kelsey Glasener's costume design does not—she outfits the "medieval Poles" in tie-dye purple get-ups that make them look like the kind of group you'd encounter on a flight from Green Bay to New York the day before Prince's "Welcome 2 America" concert.

Overall, Life's a Dream is an entertaining and thought-provoking production that's worth seeing, especially if you can make it to one of the free shows at a shelter or a community center. (Reservations are required; click here for details.) The audience's reactions are part of any production, and with Ten Thousand Things—which stages all productions in the round—those reactions are at the heart of everything.

Jay Gabler

Jay Gabler (jay@tcdailyplanet.net, Twitter @JayGabler) is the Daily Planet's arts editor.