Who’s got the time these days to dream about utopias? Most of us, worn down by the daily grind, are reduced to blubbering wrecks at the mere suggestion of incremental change.
For that reason alone, Walkabout Theatre Company’s “Impossible Cities: A Utopian Experiment” held promise. Especially at this time of year, it’s healthy to sit in a theater seat and ponder the possible dream — assuming you’re willing to tell your boss to shove it, tell your steady paycheck to shove it, and remove your impecunious self to rural Iowa or the desert southwest.
But while there are some provocative moments, the show doesn’t achieve what it might.
Part of the problem here is that “Impossible Cities: A Utopian Experiment” — which relies mostly on solo performers — gets lost in specific utopias and doesn’t spend enough time musing on the fact and definition ofutopia in a way that might touch the heart of the average working stiff. It’s a show overly heavy on details and confessionals and far too light on concepts.
The piece also has a broad definition of utopias. Most of the show actually ponders the well-documented historical communities where people of a particular religious persuasion went largely to be left alone to pursue their values and beliefs — such as the Inspirationalists of Amana, Iowa, or the Mormons of Nauvoo, Ill. Only a small portion deals with actual experimental communities such as Arcosanti, the Arizona living lab, driven by the ideas of Paolo Soleri.
It’s the smart, self-aware, first-person piece on Arcosanti, delivered by Ira S. Murfin, that is the most interesting of the night because it actually taps into a utopian impulse driven by idealism. There is also some interest in Chloe Johnson’s droll imagining of Amana and Seth Zurer’s lively cooking-and-talking treatment of the goings on in Clarion, Utah.
But Seth Bockley’s strident, pseudo-comic look at Nauvoo needs less shrillness and more ideas. And Jessica Hudson’s overly jumpy linking narrative (driven by the work of Italo Calvino), flits in and out without finding its stride.
The show takes place in concert with an exhibit at the Peter Jones Gallery on the same “Impossible Cities” theme. Overall, the art in the lobby reveals more than the performance.
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cjones5@tribune.com
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“Impossible Cities: A Utopian Experiment”
When: Through Jan. 28
Where: Peter Jones Gallery, 1806 W. Cuyler Ave.
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Tickets: $15 at 773-472-6725
