Mouse In A Jar
By Martyna Majok
At
Red Tape Theatre
(Red Tape Theatre Website)
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
621 W. Belmont
Chicago, Illinois 60657
847.738.6919

October 5 to 31, 2009

Director: Daria Davis
Managing Director: Paul G. Miller
Assistant Director/Dramaturge: Caitlin Montanye Parrish
Lighting: Kyle Land
Set Design: William Anderson
Puppetry Design: Sarah Bendix
Costume Design & Production Manager: Mackenzie Brown
Stage Manager: Cynthia Carney
Artistic Director: James Palmer
Sound Design: Miles Polaski
Properties Design: Kat Powers
Casting: Paige Sawin
Marketing/Communications: Myah Shein
Public Relations: James Palmer

Cast:
Ben Gettinger: Fip
Irene Kapustina: Zosia
Don Markus: HIM
Kathleen Powers: Ma
Tamara Todres: Daga

Susan Weinrebe
October 5, 2009

If you think you have the family from hell, you haven’t met Ma and her daughters, Zosia and Daga, living in their basement space, trying to survive the nightly visits from HIM, the man in the boots.
Mouse In A Jar, a new play by Martyna Majok, is an allegory for dysfunctional attachments, enablers, and abusers. It is the perfect theatrical advent to Halloween, giving form to the bogeyman whose fearsome attraction for us inhabits our own dark corners.

As Ma stirs a cook pot, the two daughters, mature young women, emerge from the baby crib which is a continuing symbol for the infantilizing they will always experience as long as they remain at “home.” For her part, Ma is hampered in all of her movements by the heavy chain that tethers her to a post.

At the stove, she prepares food to feed the monster who visits nightly, terrorizes the household and abuses her. This man is so vile that he has been removed from the pale of humankind by a Mudman sort of mask, the horrific stuff of nightmares. Sound and light effects add to the fearful anticipation of his arrival, as if experiencing a putrid smell before actually encountering the rancid object.

Ma will not leave her prison or seek relief from her abuse, even though her children have tried to free her. But when she fears for Daga’s safety, we see she has always had the power to cast off her chains and that she is a willing partner in her battery and ravishment.

Strong visual symbols and layered cultural references abound in Mouse In A Jar. HIM restrains Ma from behind and pulls a disgusting length of fabric from his mouth hole. Together they wrap her head so she cannot see, speak, or show facial expression. Later, a burlap sack is put over her head, a reminder of other prisoners, notably those at Abu Ghraib Prison. They are sightless by reason of force; she, by collusion.

Tamara Todres, at first difficult to understand, delivered lines of humor and frustrated rage with increased effect and ease as the focus shifted to center on her give and take with Ma. As the self-selected family rescuer, she balanced the seriousness of her part with sarcasm and ironic timing.

Kathleen Powers, as Ma, relentlessly captured the spotlight with her Eastern European accented quick delivery of lines and hilarious curses. She drew a complex portrayal of a woman who becomes party to her own victimization. Working ensemble, she and Todres brought comic respite to the graphic depiction of their dire situation.

Red Tape Theatre, housed in St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, is located in an ancient basement space. To reach it, the audience climbed one set of stairs and descended another to reach the “stage,” actually the lower, cavernous level of the building. Chairs strategically placed around the perimeter allowed the cast to make startling entrances and exits around the circular space.
Maximizing this atmosphere, Martyna Majok’s Mouse In A Jar gives an audience much to consider once the play has ended.

Kathleen Powers as Ma
in "Mouse in a Jar"
Courtesy of Artistic Director James Palmer

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Tamara Todres as Daga
in "Mouse in a Jar"
Courtesy of Artistic Director James Palmer

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Ben Gettinger as HIM, Kathleen Powers as Ma
in "Mouse in a Jar"
Courtesy of Artistic Director James Palmer

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Ensemble Members Kyle Land (Lighting Design),
Cynthia Carney (Stage Manager), Daria Davis (Director)
"Mouse in a Jar"
Courtesy of Artistic Director James Palmer

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For more information, contact Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower at zlokower@bestweb.net