Centerstage - Chicago's Original City Guide

Philip K. Dick's work crosses standard sci-fi jargon with a hard-boiled writing style that, although stilted, sets a mood and tone for stories in which anything can, and often does, happen. By 1990s standards, though, his hovercars, vidphones, and identity-crushing police states seem a little dated. Dick published Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said in 1974. Looking back on it now, his Vietnam-era futurism is at once thoroughly compelling and utterly laughable. But, because the stories he tells rely on the standard hero/heroine motif, and because his characters' problems are always emotional and spiritual, the essence of his novels are timeless.

In Flow My Tears, adapted for the stage by Linda Hartunian, Jason Taverner is genetically designed to live the carefree life of a rich and famous television star, but a freak accident hurls him into an alternate universe where he doesn't exist. Without legitimate identification, and unable to find a single person who recognizes him, he's doomed for countless encounters with a machinating police officer who only wants to do away with him.

The script is a little hard to follow, and harder still to swallow -- but Stage Left has worked magic on it. Their production revels in every bit of Dick's melodramatic, jargon-filled prose, and breathes life into the spaces which the writer couldn't manage to flesh out. Beatrice Bosco has directed a strong cast with incredible presiscion and a keen eye for the camping and vamping which this sort of play requires. Most of the actors have mastered their characters' over-the-top posturing and pseudo-futuristic world views.

The real stars of the show, though, are its technicians. All involved have worked together to reinforce and enliven Bosco's edgy, surrealistic production. Robert G. Smith's set is a beautiful, gaudy marriage of geometry, texture, and color. Albert Carrasco's soundscaping combines techno and ambient music to set a bizarre, pulsing energy and tone for each scene. Jack Short's original music and lyrics for Taverner's television show offer the striking stylistic combination of Kathie Lee Gifford hooking up with the Ramones.

Despite any flaws in Dick's unwieldy prose, Stage Left's production of Flow My Tears excels because of the production itself.

-- Temple Lentz