Phantasmagoria V: Death Comes For All
Phantasmagoria V: Death Comes For All
Created, Written and Directed by John DiDonna
Co-Direction by Kevin G. Becker and Seth Kubersky
Additional Direction Alea Figueroa
Choreography by Mila Makarova
Additional Choreography Serafina Schiano
Fight Direction by Bill Warriner
Empty Spaces Theatre presenting at the Orlando Shakespeare Center</strong>
“Phantasmagoria” always had a strong circus element, and this is the circusiest of the series. Tonight you can get cotton candy as a concession, and you might luck into an after-event including fire eating and belly dancing. There’s also a stronger season to season story line, even if the mantra of the story tellers is “Once a story is selected it must be told, and once it’s started, it must be finished.” So does that allow for multiyear plot lines? That would be telling.
This year’s ghost stories travels farther afield than ever before; Norwegian and Hindi tales are included, all enhanced and interspersed with elaborate dance numbers. Story highlights include “The Tale of the Churel”; here a tender and loving woman is spurned by her brothers, then raped and killed by them. Their complaint is never explained to us or to her, but she returns as a demon with a carved mask and a hellish mouth. H. P. Lovecraft makes an appearance; but we are not up to Cthulhu level scares yet (maybe next time.) This vengeful tale of house cats and gypsies is rather chilling, and might make you think twice about posting anymore cat memes. Next there’s a children’s tales raised to Halloween Horror Nights level in “The Spider and the Fly”; this tale scans as a psycho killer picking his vain victim at a disco and making her disappear. Norse “The Midnight Mass of the Dead” is another inexplicable ghost story; it evokes the chill of Norwegian Christmas and the deeper chill of entering the realm of the undead. Worse, these are the undead stuck in transit: “Too good for hell, but not good enough for heaven.” Looks like Minnesota is their next stop.
On the dance side of the spectrum, the most involving number was a duet on a suspended ring between Mila Makarova and her daughter Gina. I’ve watched Gina grow up on stage; she and her mother are a crisp and touching pair, and if they had some real altitude, this should have been a show stopper. Another highlight was the chaotic “Waltz of the Murderers” following Dickens’ “Captain Murderer.” It nicely expands the mayhem of the story to mayhem of movement. Lastly I’d like to mention an elaborate three way sword fight that wraps up the show: with 4 swords and everyone changing targets blow to blow, it’s the most confusing fight I’ve ever seen, but if you are close enough you might need to duck, even in the second row. This year’s Phantasmagoria is every bit as enjoyable as the previous, it’s a Halloween thrill of words and lights and puppets without the trite zombie shuffle or the Ed Wood cheese.
For more information on Empty Spaces Theater Company, visit http://www.emptyspacestheatre.org
