New City Chicago was added to the large group of critics who have given rave reviews to my show Termen Vox Machina. (Those other papers would be: Time Out Chicago, Chicago Reader, Windy City Times, Centerstage Chicago, Chicago Critic, Steadstyle Chicago, Metromix, etc.)
TERMEN VOX MACHINA
THEATRE REVIEW
My high school Latin might be a little rusty, but loosely translated "Termen Vox Machina" means "Termen and the Voice in the Machine". And yet it might as well stand for "easy to describe, harder to explain." I won't claim a complete understanding of the meaning of the new one from Oracle Theatre - but I can say that whatever it means, it has great onstage value, suceeds spectacularly and proves Oracle to be one of the most technically gifted and fiercely ambitious theatre companies around. With "Machina" based on the life of Lev Termen (aka Leon Theremin), the famous Russian scientist, spy and inventor of the electronical musical instrument bearing his name, Oracle has taken an elusive and ambiguous science-fiction radio radio drama origionally written by MDeegan and performed by a Los Angeles theatre troupe (the seven-episode podcast is still available for streaming on the internet), and applied their trademark technological finesse while preserving the source materials strong aural prescence. The remarkable atmospheric score and film noire underscoring is by composer Johnathen Guillen. The play combines this score very much in the way a good music video might serve a good song. If youre a fan of Ken Nordine's Word Jazz, or Joe Frank, or any of the quasi-theological spoken-work radio serials, albeit with a hint of science fiction, romance, and a heaping of Cold-War espionage politics, you won't be dissapointed.
You may experience visual overload, as "Machinas" unconventional narrative is brought to life by director Max Traux's assaulting visuals, as well as an eight person cast -- appearing live onstage, via video projection, or as a hologram -- who mouth an pantomime the pre-recorded soundtrack with astonishing technical precision. Four days later, I'm still haunted by its soud, provoked by the imagery and convinced that a second visit could reap richer intellectual awards. In an age when most plays are out of your head by the time you've ordered the appetizer to your post-show dinner, that's saying a lot.
- Fabrizio O. Almeida
Termen Vox Machina was also listed as the #3 show to see in all of Chicago according to Windy City Times. The top 5 also included works at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and the Goodman which placed #5)
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