In a change from its usual haunt (the Viaduct), House Theatre has mounted an off-night production of a new piece, "Ellen and Glass," at the Storefront Theatre on Randolph Street. "Ellen," written by Ben Lobpries, is in part an experiment in using movement and dance to tell a play's story.
When a young woman named Ellen (Carolyn Defrin) is confronted with the loss of both her mother and her unborn child, nothing is the same. She's unable to seek solace in the arms of her child's father, Jeremy (Chris Mathews), and she shuts out her friend Gus as well. Instead, she retreats into an interior landscape of dreams and visions, where most of the show's movement happens.
"Ellen Under Glass" is at its best when the Lifetime-movie-of-the-week chatter of the real world falls by the wayside and Ellen's lurid nightmare journeys to the Black Mountain begin. Defrin's dance expresses her character's pain and confusion more eloquently than pages of dialogue, and the world behind her mirror is more compelling than reality to the audience as well as to the protagonist. She meets two companions there: Jezebel and Joan.
Jezebel is forever trying to escape the dogged pursuit of her lover (the same actor playing Carolyn's fiancé). Joan (possibly a reference to Joan of Arc) is on a quest to rescue her mother and return to heaven (or El Dorado) with her, but she is always immolated and returned to the pearly gates before she can succeed.
These archetypical characters are somehow also versions of Ellen herself; like Jezebel she is pushing away her former lover, and like Joan she feels lost without her mother and is filled with anger she doesn't know how to channel. All of them are hunted by fallen angels who patrol the borders between the different worlds and work to prevent any crossing over. These devices give director Tommy Rapley ample opportunity to create striking stage pictures.
The piece nevertheless feels like it's still in its gestation period; it's a bit on the short side, and it seems like there are some great ideas at work that need to be further fleshed out, as well as dead weight that needs to be trimmed. Too much is left vague and confusing; I for one had difficulty understanding exactly what happened to Ellen's mother, or exactly how the fall that brought about Ellen's miscarriage came to pass. Some of the scenes in the real world seem to drag on a bit, but "Ellen Under Glass" can't be accused of being uninteresting, only a bit tough to comprehend.
Playing at the Storefront Theatre; 66 E. Randolph St.; (312) 742-8497; $15. Runs through April 26; 7:30 p.m. Monday-Wednesday.
