REVIEW: FLAMEL'S DREAM

Posted by arts_reviews

Posted: April 11, 2008 - 11:44 pm

By MIKE DUNHAM
RICHARD REICHMAN: Playwright, actor.

Playwright Dick Reichman is at his best, I think, when his subject is love, specifically the inexplicable deep down connection that defies easily discerned parameters but sometimes gets communicated through theater.
FLAMEL'S DREAM: Director Bob Pond holds a model of the set for the play "Flamel's Dream" on April 2, 2008. In the background are stage manager Melody Paynter, actor/writer Dick Reichman, actor Patrick Killoran and actor Charlotte Campbell.

"Flamel's Dream" is this kind of comic yet serious romance, a fetching story with appealing characters and an overlay of more profound philosophical considerations: Why are men and women so necessary for each other? Why do we desire immortality and what is it's nature?

FIRE AND AIR: Dick Reichman, "Fireman", and Charlotte Campbell, "Celeste", in rehearsal for the play "Flamel's Dream" on April 2, 2008.

The plot, set in a contemporary city, involves an ailing woman, Celeste, fascinated by alchemy - the medieval mix of physical observation and mystical speculation that preceded the development of modern chemistry. She encounters an odd man, Fireman, who seems to know much more about it than she does, who offers hope that alchemical art may restore her health. To the consternation of her daughter, she supplies him with money to buy chemicals, food and, most important, a curious book consisting only of pictures that may describe the steps to achieving the "Great Work," the philosopher's stone, the elixer of life.

The play is perhaps the "tightest" piece Reichman has written. Even his smoothest previous plays always felt a little long in spots. These two acts, finished in less than two hours, rolled right along. Even the interludes in which allegories for the Sun and Moon pantomimed held my attention.

The writing is often witty as in this exchange when Fireman skeptically balks at paying $25 for Celeste's self-published book on alchemy.

Celeste: You thought it was free?

Fireman: I only ask because it bears resemblance to a religious tract, and usually those are free. ...

Celeste: Are you that broke?

Fireman: Only until you tell me how to make gold.

But it's the chemistry between the two characters that makes this play glow. As in Reichman's earlier "Bells of Genieva," the relationship between two long-lost souls who truly live only in their mutuality gives the script its heart.

That heart might be better revealed after the cast gets past the lumpiness of opening night at Cyrano's. Or maybe with different performers. Though sincere, Charlotte Campbell's Celeste seemed heavy and static. But so did Reichman's Fireman; it can't be easy playing the character you've written. We'll assume that director Bob Pond was in close collaboration with the playwright, but one couldn't help but wonder what it might have looked like had Reichman directed and the late Jerry Harper taken his role.

The back-story was invisible and any interest in the secondary characters, played by Krista Schwarting and Patrick Killoran, was blunted by the brevity of their appearances; maybe that's the trade-off for tightness.
HERE COMES THE SUN: Patrick Killoran plays "Alchemical Sun" in rehearsal for the play "Flamel's Dream" on April 2, 2008,

Magic is a prevalent element in the work. In addition to the mysterious book, references to the historical alchemist, Flamel, and an afterlife scene, the presence of the silent Sun and Moon symbols (Killoran and Schwarting) create a second, spiritual level of imagery overlapping the "real world" scenes from the present day. The Sun-Moon costumes, by Bernie Blaine and Margret Hugi-Lewis, made a striking sight. Erick Hayden's choreography of the pantomimes was graceful and appropriate.

Whatever its weaknesses, this is a play that leaves one with much to mull afterward - particularly if you've ever experienced a powerful affection that seemed driven by a communion that existed before you ever met. The kind of affection Fireman seems to suggest when he says, "Good conversation is like sex."

"Flamel's Dream" will be presented at 7 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. and 3 p.m. Sun. through May 4 at Cyrano's. Tickets are available at CenterTix.net.

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