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Theater review
The Last Unicorn
Promethean Theatre Ensemble. By Peter S. Beagle. Adapted by Ed Rutherford. Dir. Rutherford. With ensemble cast.
UMBRELLA CORPS Embrey, front, stays dry.Photo: Tom McGrathThe titular unicorn sets off on a quest to discover why she’s the last of her kind. Leaving the protection of her home for the first time, she encounters a number of flawed humans (an incompetent magician, a middle-aged damsel) longing for a fairy tale instead of their own grubby reality. What begins as an upside-down fable ends as a strikingly melancholic and adult examination of heartbreak’s necessity.
Like Beagle’s adored cult classic of 1968, Promethean’s new adaptation is a delightfully weird quest. Adapter-director Rutherford manages to serve both the novel’s hard-core fans and those to whom the tale is new. While it may be easier, at times, for the former group to follow the action, the cast toes the line in moments that might otherwise exclude the latter. Ensemble members occasionally teeter into the cartoonish, and Rutherford tosses in a handful of incongruous modern touches (a Cubs hat, a Joe Biden magazine cover). But Kyla Embrey as the Unicorn and Nick Lake as a sweetly resigned wizard ground the evening with a sense of wry, eternal mourning.
Sean Campbell’s lights and Jeanne Jones’s costumes have a childlike, guileless simplicity. Their palettes are plain but striking: the stage bathed in red, a white rose standing in for a unicorn’s horn. As any good fantasy should, the designs, and the production, allow room for the audience’s imagination. Perhaps Promethean’s version could be a little shorter and darker, but it’s a charming jaunt that more than lives up to its source.
Time Out Chicago / Issue 243 : Oct 22–28, 2009
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The review's were wonderful, I have a grandniece in the play and am delighted to see how the reviews were so positive. Wish I had been in Chicago to see it. Will it ever make it to Vegas???
While I applaud this company's attempt to try something new, I did not enjoy this production. I felt the show couldn't find it's artistic style, so it borrowed from every other movement based theater company in town. Though 2-3 of these moments paid off visually, most were never fully actualized and felt stiff, and none of them justified the fact that the show ran 45 minutes too long. Perhaps it's just not my taste, but I've seen similar, done much better, by many companies.
I would recommend this play to my middle age friends as well as their children. Truly an excellent adaptation, and indeed new piece of art, that can hold anyone's attention better than a homeless man masturbating into a bagel!
This is the best play I've seen this year. An absolutely faithful, yet creative and elegant adaption of the book. I plan to see it again.
I'm Peter S. Beagle's business manager. Peter and I were at the opening night show and next day matinee, and I wanted to tell anyone who might be reading this page that he and I both loved it. Very imaginative, very inventive, and absolutely faithful to the spirit of Peter's work without being afraid to make changes as necessary to fit the space, the cast, the running time, and the specific needs of theater. We left Chicago very happy indeed.
Absolutely beautiful. So simple and yet so magical. I highly recommend this amazing play.
I literally felt like I was a unicorn imprisoned in the shifting tides, looking on in wonder as the Promethean ensemble brought me through a journey of love, heartbreak, and growth.
It was a wonderful adaptation of the book... I seriously hope it won't be the last time I encounter this script.
Loved it. An enchanting evening!