STAGE REVIEWS : OPEN FESTIVAL : Kanater Creates Subtle ‘Madman’

“We can’t see our noses; that’s because they’re all on the moon,” says civil servant Poprishchin in Gogol’s “Diary of a Madman” at the Odyssey Theatre. It isn’t the first sign of madness.

Early on in Ismail Kanater’s re-creation of the Gogol short story, the adaptor/director/actor gives subtle hints of a mind awry beyond the words his script. Sudden darting looks into darkness, while he recounts the crushingly common events of his day, show irresistible forces pulling him away from reality. It’s a stylish performance that finds poignancy in Poprishchin’s emasculating career, in his fated adoration of the department director’s daughter, humor in his twisted vision of life and logic in the delusions that precede his final leap from reason.

One wonders at Poprishchin’s amazing facility for mimicking the adversaries of his sanity, but it is all a part of Kanater’s style, as is his ability to mold his image within Lynn Peryon’s fluid chiaroscuro lighting design. His features metamorphose from the crisp, sculptured youth of a Bronzino portrait to the crumpled ruin of a Rembrandt. Kanater is amazing.

At 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd.; Thursdays and Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.; indefinite. $16-$19.50; (213) 477-2055.