With a great deal of necessary condensation and simplification, playwright Lawrence Bommer has tried to make a stage piece out of the last half of Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels.”
Ignoring the 18th Century book’s more famous first half, which tells of the voyages of Dr. Lemuel Gulliver to the remote nations of Lilliput and Brobdignag, Bommer has turned instead to the third and fourth parts, in which the intrepid physician and sea captain sails off to further adventures.
In Laputa, Gulliver encounters a learned, theorizing breed of beings who from their flying island lord it over the groundlings who serve them below in the continent of Balnibari. In the Kingdom of Luggnagg, he discovers the Struldbruggs, a people who never die and wish they were dead.
Finally, in a story line that precedes “Planet of the Apes” by two centuries, he journeys to the country of the Houyhnhnms, a group of noble horses who stand in sharp contrast to the Yahoos, a human-like breed that fills the Houyhnhnms, and Gulliver, with disgust because of their foul and brutish behavior.
Each of these exotic voyages to faraway lands provides Swift with ample opportunity to satirize the vanity, stupidity and viciousness of his pathetic fellow man.
Rearranging some events and sticking only to the main points of the story, Bommer has turned Swift’s complex narrative into a two-hour play that, while making its basic satirical points, doesn’t add much wisdom or laughter.
Director Steve Scott’s production at the Organic Theater is an energetic but not very inventive one, with Gary Houston stolidly portraying Gulliver, and the rest of the 11-person cast dashing about to change costumes for their multiple roles.
The precise, dense Swiftian prose does not translate well into stage dialogue, and the production’s boisterous additions-including running gags about the infidelity of Gulliver’s wife and the disbelief that greets his tales-soon fade in their obvious humor.
Too earnest and too broad at the same time, the show’s design, which uses a series of wooden doors as its chief scenic element, also suffers from a limited budget.
”GULLIVER’S LAST TRAVELS”
A new play adapted by Lawrence Bommer from the novel by Jonathan Swift and directed by Steve Scott, with scenery by Cheryl Ann Levin, costumes by Erica Hoelscher, lighting by Margaret L. Nelson, movement design by Julia Neary and sound by Liane LeMaster. Opened March 14 at the Organic Theater, 3319 N. Clark St., and plays at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, through April 10, plus 8 p.m. March 25 and April 8. Running time: 2:15. Tickets are $15, or $7.50 for children under 12. Phone 312-327-5588.
THE CAST
Dr. Lemuel Gulliver……………………………………Gary Houston
With J. David Blazevich, Lavonne Byers, Julie Greenberg, Steve Herson, Guy Massey, Teigh McDonough, William O’Connor, Melody Rae, Jon Thompson, Eric Winzenried.
