THEATER REVIEW : Fred Curchack’s Own Twist on Shakespeare

Prospero has nothing on Fred Curchack.

Like the exiled duke of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” Curchack is a magician. But while Prospero practiced dark sorcery to tantalize and torment his captive enemies, his modern counterpart uses the most ingenious performance art to astonish and amaze his captive audience.

“Stuff as Dreams Are Made On” is Curchack’s sly, visually breathtaking deconstruction of “The Tempest.” “What Fools These Mortals Be” is his paler, considerably more strained take on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The shows are playing in rotating repertory at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles.

Currently a theater professor at the University of Texas-Dallas, Curchack has drawn on an admirably varied theatrical background--his stage bio lists study of Japanese Noh, African dance, Grotowski and more--in developing a rich tapestry of image and sound.

He has also imbued with new meaning the phrase one-man show. He alone edits and improvises the text, designs the masks, plays the musical instruments (recorder, guitar, chimes), creates sound effects, works the lighting board and plays every role. Some of these chores are performed simultaneously, which makes Curchack his own director and stage manager as well.

“Stuff” works on two levels: as an original critique of Shakespeare’s text and a parody of other contemporary (especially academic) critiques. Often he breaks down the fourth wall to address the audience. “I knew people wouldn’t know this show,” he apologizes in one of many asides. “That’s why I beefed up the visual stuff.”

And indeed he has. Curchack creates magnificent, often hilariously incongruous visual effects by manipulating a footlight and scrim or igniting two cigarette lighters for a strobe-lit effect. Many viewers probably wiled away nights at summer camp similarly engaged, though Curchack here elevates shadow pictures to high art.

He is equally impressive probing the tension between Shakespeare and his modern interpreters. The monster Caliban--here presented with a grotesque mask and blond dreadlocks--taunts a member of the audience and then breaks character to explain that he is not so horrible after all but is merely trying to create a dialectic.

In “Fools,” though, many of Curchack’s virtues become vices. Using a grating falsetto voice, the performer manipulates dolls during extended scenes, at times veering uncomfortably close to amusement-park puppet show. The self-referential ad-libs (“We must escape this phallocentric, repressive regime!” one of the young lovers says) here seem forced rather than fanciful.

Maybe the problem is just the source material. Where “Tempest” offers a fairly straightforward plot line and obvious visual opportunities, “Midsummer” depends much more heavily on story and character--a fact Curchack underscores with a tongue-in-cheek, pre-curtain plot synopsis.

One almost feels guilty attacking the hard-working Curchack, however. In both of these shows--and especially the astonishing “Stuff”--the viewer is amazed that one man, albeit one with considerable powers, can create such a multitude of effects.

* “Stuff as Dreams Are Made On” and “What Fools These Mortals Be,” Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West Los Angeles. (310) 477-2055.

“Stuff”: Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays, 2 p.m. (except May 14 and 28); April 30, May 28, 7 p.m. Ends May 28. $19.50-$21.50. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.

“Fools”: Wednesdays (except May 3)-Fridays, 8 p.m. May 14 and 28, 2 p.m. Ends May 28. $17.50-$21.50. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.