what: folk bound by anne walaszek
where: zoo studios in north center
accompaniment: becky, emily, dustin & sarah
drinkability: byob!! can anyone say mini wines?
show length: 90 minutes, no intermission
out of four: three/four
duplicity ensemble is a brand new theatre company here in chicago, born out of the artistic direction of nathan wonder and enhanced by the script by anne walaszek (both seen in last year's DAWN, QUIXOTE at the building stage). duplicity began just as a name to produce this work and ultimately expanded into a full fledged company, now with two shows on the horizon and a successful run already under their belts for their inaugural show.
duplicity did a nice job setting the stage in the chicago mammals' zoo studio space. where one typically attends theatre to see raucous, dark, frightening works- you're handed a fairytale as you enter with your program. its yours to peruse until curtain up, and take home with a clever donation back to duplicity. you're also encouraged to select and play a record to set the whimsical mood pre-show, which was an adorable addition but hard to experience over the roar of a raunchy industry monday night crowd.
FOLK BOUND follows the story of lucy (played mostly by chelsea angeletti, later played by caroline sinon) and her journey home- out of the city and (no pun intended) into the woods. she is greeted on her quest to get home to her mother by various fairy tale creatures that she knows as friends and neighbors, but something is off. while the fairy tale creatures typically go through their lives in an infinite loop of beginning to end of their story- things are changing in the woods due to a dark creature interrupting the natural flow of things. lucy decides to help her friends the best she can- in exchange for guidance home.
i grew up with a few classic disney movies- the jungle book, lion king, little mermaid- but i was never drawn into them the way that our disney culture is booming and exploding today. so for me, stepping in to see FOLK BOUND left me a little worried that my interest would wane at the introduction of creatures like the frog prince, hansel and gretel, etc.- but it did quite the opposite. duplicity does a wonderful job humanizing the unreachable characters we see on the screen and making the fantasy relatable, most especially with song and dance supporting the acting.
it's not often you see pieces of dance beyond synchronized movement on the stage outside of a full-fledged musical. choreography by annaleigh tubbin shines in this production. the modern movement worked into the scenes in correlation with the a cappella songs (written by pamela maurer aka baby money) had a beautiful, fantastical effect that simultaneously created an air of a fairy tale while rooting it in reality. an absolute highlight of the show for me was the gorgeous song sung by rapunzel's prince (played heartachingly by johnny kyle cook) as he sits blind and infected in her cell - their story unable to finish due to the darkness of gaunt (played by taylor glowae) hovering over the woods.
FOLK BOUND is heartbreaking, heart fulfilling, and full of some of the most inventive uses of space, set, and ensemble that i have seen, especially from a novice company like duplicity. they have big things ahead and i can't wait to see them succeed in all they do.
the show runs through april 19th, tickets run $15-20 with discounts over at goldstar.
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upcoming april shows:
thursday april 10th, 6:30pm - harold mendez's but i sound better since you cut my throat
thursday april 17th, 7:30pm: steppenwolf theatre's the way west
TBD: the ruckus' the deer
join me, will you?