March 18--Much as I like the ambitions behind Tympanic Theatre Company's project, I'm not sure any of it works. A collection of short plays by 12 writers, each tackling a track from Radiohead's 1997 album "OK Computer," the production feels like a writing exercise gone flat.
Don't expect to hear any snippets from the album. Despite some acoustic renderings before the performance, the decision to divorce the music itself from the endeavor left me scratching my head. There is an almost meditative mood the album evokes, loud moments and all. By contrast, "Today We Escape" fails to establish any mood, period, which is the real disappointment.
Some of the plays take a literal approach (including Natalie DiCristofano's deeply unformed piece, inspired by "Karma Police"). None of it really hangs together, but the plays that work best have a more abstract relationship to the source material.
By far the most effective is "Terry" (by Randall Colburn and directed by Allison Shoemaker), and its strength is largely the result of Jon Patrick Penick's incredible, dialogue-free performance. Inspired by "Paranoid Android," the play is just a perfectly self-contained piece of theater wherein Penick is a session musician recording a guitar lick over and over again for a demanding unseen voice on the other end of the studio intercom.
Gradually, the session turns into something trippy, a memory fever or a digital glitch that worms its way under the guy's skin. Penick has to convey a range of subtly shifting emotions without uttering a word -- distressed, annoyed, bored, confused, livid, amused, soul-crushed. The guy finds a way to do it all.
"Today We Escape: Plays Inspired by 'OK Computer'"
2 STARS
Through April 4 at The Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave.; tickets are $20 at tympanictheatre.org
nmetz@tribpub.com
