Puppeteers give serious, superb show for adults

Those who think puppet plays are for children had better guessagain.

Hystopolis Puppet Theater, in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood,has demonstrated its ingenuity in the past with such fairy-tale fareas "Rapunzel." Now, Hystopolis has turned its talents to a playthat's definitely for thinking adults: Elmer Rice's "The AddingMachine."

The youthful actor-puppeteers at Hystopolis still demonstratetheir flair for goofy grotesquerie. But rarely has a humorous mediumbeen put to the service of such a troubling message.

The subject of "The Adding Machine," written in 1923 but all toorelevant today, is the oppression of the common man by the forces oftechnological progress and moral superstition.

The adding machine in Rice's play isn't a mechanical device;it's the human hero, Mr. Zero, a little nobody who finds himself laidoff from his accounting job after 25 years - in the name of"efficiency." Afraid to bring the news to his wife - a coarse,nagging slob who berates her husband for "pushin' a pencil" - Zerokills his boss. Convicted and executed for the crime, he findshimself in an afterlife that's far different from the rigidreward-and-punishment system he had been trained to expect.

Rice's expressionistic fantasy, which digs deeply into moraland theological notions of free will and reincarnation, ischallenging in its epic scale, with its cast of 25 and its rapidlychanging series of locations in this world and the next. Because ofthat it's seldom performed. And that's a shame, considering itswealth of provocative ideas and the stinging richness of its1920s-vernacular dialogue.

The folks at Hystopolis, reducing the play to puppet scale,literally handle the characters and settings with fascinatinginventiveness. The leading characters in this three-dimensionalcartoon are cubistic, Picasso-style caricatures.

Zero's face is a perpetually scrunched question mark. And themouth of his overly gabby wife comes flying off her face to harassher hubby.

Hystopolis players Larry Basgall, John Gegenhuber, Cindy Orthaland Michael Schwabe enhance visual creativity with strong vocalacting. They are supported by director Jim Ostholhoff andtechnical-effects creators Timm Reinhard and Jim Rossow.

This superb production is one of the most interesting shows intown - funny and moving in a special way. The open run will continueat 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 441 W. North. Ticketsare $10. Reservations: 787-7387.