Death Takes No Holiday in the ‘Mall’

An updating of the old English morality play, Cornerstone Theater Company’s “Everyman in the Mall” is a clever piece of environmental theater in which the audience tracks the cast through different locales in a shopping mall (coming soon to Montclair Plaza and Topanga Plaza, at Santa Monica Place the night this reviewer attended.)

Time has run out for Everyman, and Death has come to call. What better place for a final “reckoning” of one’s misdeeds than a mall, that modern-day cynosure of conspicuous consumption and materialism?

Cast members shepherd the audience to various sites, including a catacombs-like “No Admittance” area, where Death announces the agenda for the evening, and a chichi shop where a mannequin comes unexpectedly to life.

Although its subject matter touches upon weighty themes of human folly, damnation and redemption, the play is great good fun. Reviving Cornerstone’s popular 1994 production with some new cast members, director-adapters Bill Rauch and Shishir Kurup (who also contributed original music to the piece) vividly reconfigure the hoary elements of this traditional drama to impressively modern proportions.

Abetted by a crack running crew, the directors also prevail over the logistical difficulties inherent in such an innately problematic staging. The actors, most of whom play multiple roles, bring cartoonish verve to their roles. Jose Lopez’s lighting, Dori Quan’s costumes, and David Karagianis’ superlative sound design are essential--and highly portable--production elements.

* “Everyman in the Mall,” Oct. 16-19 at Montclair Plaza, Montclair; Oct. 23-26 at Topanga Plaza, Woodland Hills. Thursdays-Saturdays, 9 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. $9.99. (310) 449-1700. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.