The first act of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull centers on a botched production of an experimental play that’s been written and directed by an oversensitive young man named Konstantin Treplev. The production bears all the markings of bad avant-garde theater: it’s humorless and incomprehensible, full of baffling imagery and pretentious language. Treplev thinks he’s broken new ground. His mother, a successful actress on the commercial stage, laughs at the poor boy, dismissing his work as decadent nonsense.
Tell It & Speak It & Think It & Breathe It, from the Ruckus, is also playful and also slight. The hour-long program comprises six short plays, each by a different author using the lyrics of a well-known song as a jumping-off point. Neil Young’s “After the Gold Rush” inspires a surprisingly sweet tale by Dan Caffrey about two teens meeting in a postapocalyptic wasteland, Neko Case’s “Man” prompts a meditation from Jessica Reese on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Joshua Davis finds visions of paradise and hell in the Chords’ “Sh-Boom,” and so on. The playlets are well acted and, on the night I saw the show, were nicely accompanied by Katie Schell on piano (different musicians are scheduled to step in throughout the run). But ultimately the production adds up to a series of tantalizing bites rather than a full meal.
Rhinoceros Theater Festival
Through 2/23: Thu-Mon, various times Prop Thtr 3502 N. Elston 773-492-1287rhinofest.com $12 in advance online, $15 or pay what you can at the door
